Job stress can cause headaches, stomach aches, fatigue, and all manner of physical and psychological problems, a factor contributing to the loss of over $200 billion in absenteeism costs per year in the United States alone. But supportive supervisors can ease the pain quickly and effectively according to a new study from the University of Haifa, about to be published in the European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology.

The study was run in China and studied 241 workers who reported when they experienced physical complaints, burn-out, absenteeism, and fatigue. The results indicated that supervisors who offered such things as understanding, an adjusted work load or stress management significantly reduced physical complaints and absenteeism.

Dr. Biron, one of the head researchers on the study, interpreted the results as follows: "The worker who is given this sort of support is more likely to overcome the somatic stress and continue to work productively, leaving recovery for the normal after-work hours when we recharge our batteries. With the enormous economic losses due to absenteeism and with this still being a poorly understood phenomenon, the results of this new study are shedding light on those factors influencing sickness absence and which can be considered in the effort to reduce the losses without compromising work ethic and commitment."

This summary was provided as a public service by Westside Behavioral Care, Inc., a company that provides outpatient counseling, psychotherapy, and mental health services across the greater Denver metropolitan area.

New research from Concordia University, published in the Journal of College Student Development, indicates that survivors of child abuse may be helped by mentoring relationships, according to head author, Rosemary C. Reilly, an associate professor in the Concordia Department of Applied Human Sciences.

Dr. Reilly and co-author Miranda D'Amico, a professor in the Concordia Department of Education, studied 10 women who had suffered severe childhood abuse and then had been mentored later in life while enrolled in college. The timing of mentorship led to fairly immediate improvements in self-esteem and negative emotions.

The authors concluded that universities should establish mentorship program for survivors of child abuse and possibly other forms of trauma as well. "For survivors of childhood abuse, relationship and connection are what really matters and what successful mentorship is all about," says Reilly.

This summary was provided as a public service by Westside Behavioral Care, Inc., a company that provides outpatient counseling, psychotherapy, and mental health services across the greater Denver metropolitan area.

A new study published in the Journal of Nursing Measurement found that many teens who need mental health treatment refrain from getting it because of perceived stigma.

Melissa Pinto, Ph.D., RN, KL2 Clinical Research Scholar and instructor of nursing at the university's Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, said, "We needed to find a reliable and valid way to measure the presence of stigma associated with mental illness among adolescents." To accomplish this aim, Dr. Pinto and fellow researchers tested 210 adolescents aged between 13 and 18, using the Revised Attribution Questionnaire (r-AQ) to measure mental illness and perceived stigma.

Dr. Pinto reports,


"The Revised Attribution Questionnaire was found to be a reliable and valid measure among this group of adolescents. Having measures of that reliable and validity give us confidence when we do interventions with teens to decrease stigma that changes we are see are actually changes and not an artifact of the measure. Specifically, this measure holds promise to be used in intervention studies to determine if our interventions work. If untreated, illnesses, like depression and mood disorders, tend to reoccur and become chronic," said Pinto.

Pinto concluded,


"Mental illness is like other diseases, with treatment, people can recover. Creating a social culture where people feel comfortable getting treatment and talking about the illness with others who can support them is a vital initial step that can help people get better."


This summary was provided as a public service by Westside Behavioral Care, Inc., a company that provides outpatient counseling, psychotherapy, and mental health services across the greater Denver metropolitan area.