Living alone has become more common in today’s societies. Despite the high number of the population living alone, research directed towards the mental wellbeing issues related to living alone has been limited. This systematic literature review aimed to assess the association between living alone and positive mental health. We conducted searches in Medline, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and other complementary databases from January 1998 to May 2019. Randomised trials and observational studies investigating adults over 18 years of age and living alone (defined as living in a single household or a household size of one person) were eligible. The primary outcome was positive mental health, defined as comprising both hedonic and eudaimonic elements of mental wellbeing, and it was measured with the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale and/or theWHO-5 Index. Two reviewers independently screened and selected data; one reviewer extracted data, and the second checked the extracted data. A narrative synthesis described the quality and content of the evidence. Included studies were appraised using relevant Joanna Briggs Institute checklist. A total of 4 cross-sectional studies (22,591 adult participants) were included after screening of 341 titles and abstracts and 46 full-text articles. These studies were conducted in Europe and were published between 2014 and 2017. The studies differed in their measurements of positive mental health (WHO-5 Well-Being Index, 3 studies; WEMWBS, 1 study), sources of data (1 regional, 1 national, and 2 European-level studies), and study populations (regional study, adults over 65 years of age; national-level study, mental health nurses over 21 years of age; European-level studies, employees between 15 and 65 years of age and adults over 18 years of age). A potential association between living alone and low positive mental health was found in three out of the four studies. Our findings were limited as the number of included studies was low and the quality of evidence varied across studies. This review allows a limited look at the association between living alone and positive mental health. Because the number of included studies was low and the quality of evidence varied across studies, further research is warranted.

Objective: The aim is to report the outcomes of the suicide prevention training in terms of the self-perceived impact on the participants. Design: The three-hour training consisted areas of risk and protective factors, screening and evaluating suicide risk, raising concerns and confronting suicidal patients, and treating suicidal ideation in primary healthcare and the associated referral processes. Subjects: The studied participants consisted of general practitioners, nurses, public health nurses and social work professionals. Main outcome measures: Participants assessed their own competence on online form regarding four training areas prior to and two weeks after the training. Results: The response rate was 25%. The self-perceived competence of the healthcare professionals increased in all training areas and in all occupational groups. The healthcare professionals’ competence regarding the risk and protective factors training area saw the greatest increase across all professional groups except nurses. There were, however, differences between the groups. Conclusion: Suicide prevention training for primary healthcare professionals did increase the self-perceived competence of the participants in all areas covered by the training. Regular follow-up training is required in order for these improvements to be further developed and retained.

This article reports the psychometric properties of both full and the abbreviated (Short) Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scales (WEMWBS; SWEMWBS) in the Finnish general population. A large cross-sectional dataset (N = 5,335) was collected as part of the nationally representative FinHealth Study in 2017. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of the data evaluated one-, two-, three-, and bi-factorial solutions with a split-half approach. McDonald's omega was used to assess internal consistency and convergent validity was evaluated using four established mental health and well-being scales (BDI-6, GHQ-12, MHI-5, EUROHIS-QOL8). Contrary to previous findings, our results supported a three-factor model of the full scale with separate, yet highly correlated, mental, social, and eudemonic well-being factors. For the SWEMWBS, the bi-factor model showed the best fit, with a strong general mental well-being factor and a weaker specific eudemonic well-being factor. In this sampling context, the social aspect of mental well-being may be considered a separable construct from other mental well-being dimensions and the shorter 7-item version might thus be a preferable option when assessing overall mental well-being.

Aims: Increased mental health problems during the COVID-19 pandemic have become a major concern among young adults. Our aim was to understand which COVID-19-related questions predicted mental well-being during the outbreak. Methods: Two cross-sectional datasets were used. The primary dataset was collected in May 2020 ( n = 1001), during the initial COVID-19 outbreak, and the secondary in April 2019 ( n = 10866), before the pandemic. Mental well-being was assessed with the Short Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale. Relationships between mental well-being and COVID-19-related questions were investigated with lasso regression. As an exploratory analysis, two-way ANOVAs were used to compare mental well-being before and during the outbreak. Results: Higher levels of mental well-being were associated with lower levels of academic stress and COVID-19-related worry, along with a higher satisfaction with the procedures and information provided by the higher education institutions and the government. COVID-19-related symptoms and infections did not have an impact on students’ mental well-being during the outbreak. Small to moderate effect sizes across the time points were detected, indicating an overall decrease in mental well-being across age and gender during the outbreak. Conclusions: COVID-19 had an impact on higher education students’ mental well-being. Higher education institutes may play a crucial role in protecting their students’ well-being during uncertain times.

Migrant-origin families may have a pronounced need for psychosocial support and healthcare services, but they face barriers in using services. To ensure the timely use of services, it is important that families understand how service systems work and trust care providers. Thirty-two migrant-origin mothers living in Finland participated in five focus-group interviews and shared their wishes for social and healthcare professionals on how trust and understanding can be increased. The data were analyzed with Qualitative Content Analysis. We identified six main themes related to the use of services and professionals’ behavior. These were the need for professionals to justify and explain questions, to meet each family as individuals, the importance of non-verbal communication, the need to talk about racism and discrimination, the importance of cultural sensitivity in services, and a discussion of positive aspects of life after migration and children`s strengths. To foster trust and mutual understanding in social and healthcare services, professionals should be aware of potential cultural differences in family life, while avoiding pre-conceived ideas. Misunderstandings can rise from language barriers and unclear or intimidating questions. It is important that professionals explain what they do and justify why they might inquire about a family’s personal matters. Working with interpreters is necessary when professionals and parents do not share a common fluent language. Professionals should also pay attention to their non-verbal communication and to being friendly. Finally, it is important to show interest in families’ experienced hardships such as racism as well as their strengths.

Mental health is largely shaped by the daily environments in which people live their lives, with positive components of mental health emphasising the importance of feeling good and functioning effectively. Promoting mental health relies on broad-based actions over multiple sectors, which can be difficult to measure. Different types of Impact Assessment (IA) frameworks allow for a structured approach to evaluating policy actions on different levels. A systematic review was performed exploring existing IA frameworks relating to mental health and mental wellbeing and how they have been used. A total of 145 records were identified from the databases, from which 9 articles were included in the review, with a further 6 studies included via reference list and citation chaining. Five different mental-health-related IA frameworks were found to be implemented in a variety of settings, mostly in relation to evaluating community actions. A Narrative Synthesis summarised key themes from the 15 included articles. Findings highlight the need for participatory approaches in IA, which have the dual purpose of informing the IA evaluation and advocating for the need to include mental health in policy development. However, it is important to ensure that IA frameworks are user-friendly, designed to be used by laypeople in a variety of sectors and that IA frameworks are operational in terms of time and monetary resources.