Janet Yamada

Empowerment has been applied as conceptual guidance for mental health promotion since the 1970s. Evidence from decades of cross‐cultural research has established that empowerment is a socially and culturally constituted construct whose mechanisms vary across different social, political and institutional contexts. However, how these variations shape implementation in practice, particularly in non‐Western settings with distinctive socio‐political configurations such as China, remains insufficiently examined. Drawing on the results of a transnational implementation research project between Canada and China, we examined how psychological empowerment is experienced in an intervention project designed for Chinese university mental health service providers. Through an analysis of focus group data and participant post‐training activity logs, we uncovered the unique nuances in how participants experienced empowerment during and after taking part in the ACE‐LYNX mental health intervention. We found that their experience of empowerment was intertwined with Chinese cultural values and the institutional features of Chinese universities. Three themes (relational reflection, moderate criticism and domestic engagement) were identified to show how the intrapersonal, interactional and behavioural components of empowerment are locally engaged at the individual level. This paper illustrates how sociocultural factors interweave with empowerment concepts and contributes to a context‐rich understanding of empowerment‐based mental health interventions.

Background: Maternal mental health disorders are associated with adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. Despite advances in screening and treatment, disparities in maternal mental health disorders continue to disproportionately affect Black mothers and birthing persons. While there are studies that have examined maternal mental health, a gap in research remains in understanding the protective and risk factors of Black maternal mental health in Canada. Identifying the risks and protective factors is critical for advancing equitable and inclusive policies and practices that promote maternal well-being and optimal outcomes for Black perinatal populations. Objective: This paper presents an outline of a study protocol that seeks to identify the protective and risk factors of Black maternal mental health and to engage Black mothers and birthing persons from the Greater Toronto Area in codesigning a culturally safe and inclusive best practices model to inform policy and interventions. Methods: The proposed study will use an exploratory 3-phase sequential mixed methods approach underpinned by the principles of health equity and community-based participatory research. Phase 1 will involve engaging Black mothers and birth persons (n=300) in a survey to examine the psychosocial determinants of Black maternal mental health, including depression, anxiety, discrimination, strong Black women trope, attitude toward seeking mental health, support, and stigma. In phase 2, we will conduct 6 focus groups and individual interviews (n=60) to explore the stressors in the context of Black mothers and birth persons’ everyday lives, psychosocial and support needs, and conditions that promote their resilience. Finally, phase 3 will engage Black women and birthing persons (n=30) in a codesign session using the concept mapping method to identify priority areas for action to inform policy and programming. We will use SPSS version 26 (IBM Corp) to analyze the survey data, drawing on both descriptive and inferential statistics. NVivo (Lumivero), a qualitative data analysis software, will be used to organize the data from phase 2 into meaningful themes informed by Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis approach. Results: Ethics approval was granted in July 2024. Data collection for phase 1 started in December 2024 and will be completed in April 2025. Findings from phase 1 will inform phases 2 and 3 of this study, which will be conducted in the third quarter of 2025. We will disseminate the results of this study in the second and third quarters of 2025. Conclusions: The findings will generate the much-needed knowledge to shift policy, practice, and research and support capacity building among Black mothers and birthing persons. In addition, the proposed study will contribute to informing policy initiatives and interventions at the health system and community level to advance mental health equity and build capacity among service providers to provide culturally safe and equitable mental health care. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): PRR1-10.2196/70076

BACKGROUND Maternal mental health disorders are associated with adverse maternal and infant health outcomes. Despite advances in screening and treatment, disparities in maternal mental health disorders continue to disproportionately affect Black mothers and birthing persons. While there are studies that have examined maternal mental health, a gap in research remains in understanding the protective and risk factors of Black maternal mental health in Canada. Identifying the risks and protective factors is critical for advancing equitable and inclusive policies and practices that promote maternal well-being and optimal outcomes for Black perinatal populations. OBJECTIVE This paper presents an outline of a study protocol that seeks to identify the protective and risk factors of Black maternal mental health and to engage Black mothers and birthing persons from the Greater Toronto Area in codesigning a culturally safe and inclusive best practices model to inform policy and interventions. METHODS The proposed study will use an exploratory 3-phase sequential mixed methods approach underpinned by the principles of health equity and community-based participatory research. Phase 1 will involve engaging Black mothers and birth persons (n=300) in a survey to examine the psychosocial determinants of Black maternal mental health, including depression, anxiety, discrimination, strong Black women trope, attitude toward seeking mental health, support, and stigma. In phase 2, we will conduct 6 focus groups and individual interviews (n=60) to explore the stressors in the context of Black mothers and birth persons’ everyday lives, psychosocial and support needs, and conditions that promote their resilience. Finally, phase 3 will engage Black women and birthing persons (n=30) in a codesign session using the concept mapping method to identify priority areas for action to inform policy and programming. We will use SPSS version 26 (IBM Corp) to analyze the survey data, drawing on both descriptive and inferential statistics. NVivo (Lumivero), a qualitative data analysis software, will be used to organize the data from phase 2 into meaningful themes informed by Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis approach. RESULTS Ethics approval was granted in July 2024. Data collection for phase 1 started in December 2024 and will be completed in April 2025. Findings from phase 1 will inform phases 2 and 3 of this study, which will be conducted in the third quarter of 2025. We will disseminate the results of this study in the second and third quarters of 2025. CONCLUSIONS The findings will generate the much-needed knowledge to shift policy, practice, and research and support capacity building among Black mothers and birthing persons. In addition, the proposed study will contribute to informing policy initiatives and interventions at the health system and community level to advance mental health equity and build capacity among service providers to provide culturally safe and equitable mental health care. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT PRR1-10.2196/70076

Background: Chinese students are extremely vulnerable to developing mental illness. The stigma associated with mental illness presents a barrier to seeking help for their mental health. Objective: The Linking Hearts—Linking Youth and ‘Xin’ (hearts) project is an implementation science project that seeks to reduce mental illness stigma and promote the mental health of university students in Jinan, China. The Linking Hearts project consists of 3 components. In this paper, we outline the protocol for the first component, that is, the contextual assessment and analysis of the mental health needs of university students as the first step to inform the adaptation of an evidence-based intervention to be implemented in Jinan, China. Methods: Six local universities will participate in the Linking Hearts project. A total of 100 students from each university (n=600) will engage in the contextual assessment through self-report surveys on depression, anxiety, stress, mental health knowledge, and mental health stigma. Quantitative data will be analyzed using several descriptive and inferential analyses via SPSS. A small number of participants (144 students and 144 service providers) will also be engaged in focus groups to assess the socio-environmental contexts of university students’ health and availability of mental health resources. Qualitative data will be transcribed verbatim and NVivo will be used for data management. Social network analysis will also be performed using EgoNet. Results: Linking Hearts was funded in January 2018 for 5 years. The protocol of Linking Hearts and its 3 components was approved by the research ethics boards of all participating institutions in China in November 2018. Canadian institutions that gave approval were Ryerson University (REB2018-455) in January 2019, University of Alberta (Pro00089364), York University (e2019-162) in May 2019, and University of Toronto (RIS37724) in August 2019. Data collection took place upon ethics approval and was completed in January 2020. A total of 600 students were surveyed. An additional 147 students and 138 service providers took part in focus groups. Data analysis is ongoing. Results will be published in 2021. Conclusions: Findings from this contextual assessment and analysis will generate new knowledge on university students’ mental health status, mental health knowledge, and resources available for them. These findings will be used to adapt and refine the Acceptance and Commitment to Empowerment-Linking Youth N’ Xin intervention model. The results of this contextual assessment will be used to inform the adaptation and refinement of the mental health intervention to promote the mental health of Chinese university students in Jinan. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR1-10.2196/25009

Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet #Preprint #PeerReviewMe: Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint. Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn. Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period. Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author). Background: Chinese students are extremely vulnerable to developing mental illness. The stigma associated with mental illness presents a barrier to seeking help for their mental health. Objective: The Linking Hearts—Linking Youth and ‘Xin’ (hearts) project is an implementation science project that seeks to reduce mental illness stigma and promote the mental health of university students in Jinan, China. The Linking Hearts project consists of 3 components. In this paper, we outline the protocol for the first component, that is, the contextual assessment and analysis of the mental health needs of university students as the first step to inform the adaptation of an evidence-based intervention to be implemented in Jinan, China. Methods: Six local universities will participate in the Linking Hearts project. A total of 100 students from each university (n=600) will engage in the contextual assessment through self-report surveys on depression, anxiety, stress, mental health knowledge, and mental health stigma. Quantitative data will be analyzed using several descriptive and inferential analyses via SPSS. A small number of participants (144 students and 144 service providers) will also be engaged in focus groups to assess the socio-environmental contexts of university students’ health and availability of mental health resources. Qualitative data will be transcribed verbatim and NVivo will be used for data management. Social network analysis will also be performed using EgoNet. Results: Linking Hearts was funded in January 2018 for 5 years. The protocol of Linking Hearts and its 3 components was approved by the research ethics boards of all participating institutions in China in November 2018. Canadian institutions that gave approval were Ryerson University (REB2018-455) in January 2019, University of Alberta (Pro00089364), York University (e2019-162) in May 2019, and University of Toronto (RIS37724) in August 2019. Data collection took place upon ethics approval and was completed in January 2020. A total of 600 students were surveyed. An additional 147 students and 138 service providers took part in focus groups. Data analysis is ongoing. Results will be published in 2021. Conclusions: Findings from this contextual assessment and analysis will generate new knowledge on university students’ mental health status, mental health knowledge, and resources available for them. These findings will be used to adapt and refine the Acceptance and Commitment to Empowerment-Linking Youth N’ Xin intervention model. The results of this contextual assessment will be used to inform the adaptation and refinement of the mental health intervention to promote the mental health of Chinese university students in Jinan.

Background: Electronic patient questionnaires are becoming ubiquitous in health care. To address care gaps that contribute to poor asthma management, we developed the Electronic Asthma Management System, which includes a previsit electronic patient questionnaire linked to a computerized clinical decision support system. Objective: This study aims to identify the determinants (barriers and enablers) of patient uptake and completion of a previsit mobile health questionnaire. Methods: We conducted semistructured interviews with adult patients with asthma in Toronto, Canada. After demonstrating the questionnaire, participants completed the questionnaire using their smartphones and were then interviewed regarding perceived barriers and enablers to using and completing the questionnaire. Interview questions were based on the Theoretical Domains Framework to identify the determinants of health-related behavior. We generated themes that addressed the enablers and barriers to the uptake and completion of the questionnaire. Results: In total, 12 participants were interviewed for saturation. Key enablers were as follows: the questionnaire was easy to complete without additional knowledge or skills and was perceived as a priority and responsibility for patients, use could lead to more efficient and personalized care, completion on one’s own time would be convenient, and uptake and completion could be optimized through patient reminders. Concerns about data security, the usefulness of questionnaire data, the stress of completing it accurately and on time, competing priorities, and preferences to complete the questionnaire on other devices were the main barriers. Conclusions: The barriers and enablers identified by patients should be addressed by developing implementation strategies to enhance e-questionnaire use and completion by patients. As the use of e-questionnaires grows, our findings will contribute to implementation efforts across settings and diseases.

Background: mHealth tablet-based interventions are increasingly being studied and deployed in various health care settings, yet little knowledge exists regarding patient uptake and acceptance or how patient demographics influence these important implementation metrics. Objective: To determine which factors influence the uptake and successful completion of an mHealth tablet questionnaire by analyzing its implementation in a primary care setting. Methods: We prospectively studied a patient-facing electronic touch-tablet asthma questionnaire deployed as part of the Electronic Asthma Management System. We describe tablet uptake and completion rates and corresponding predictor models for these behaviors. Results: The tablet was offered to and accepted by patients in 891/1715 (52.0%) visits. Patients refused the tablet in 33.0% (439/1330) visits in which it was successfully offered. Patients aged older than 65 years of age (odds ratio [OR] 2.30, 95% CI 1.33-3.95) and with concurrent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR 2.22, 95% CI 1.05-4.67) were more likely to refuse the tablet, and those on an asthma medication (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.30-0.99) were less likely to refuse it. Once accepted, the questionnaire was completed in 784/891 (88.0%) instances, with those on an asthma medication (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.32-0.88) being less likely to leave it incomplete. Conclusions: Older age predicted initial tablet refusal but not tablet questionnaire completion, suggesting that perceptions of mHealth among older adults may negatively impact uptake, independent of usability. The influence of being on an asthma medication suggests that disease severity may also mediate mHealth acceptance. Although use of mHealth questionnaires is growing rapidly across health care settings and diseases, few studies describe their real-world acceptance and its predictors. Our results should be complemented by qualitative methods to identify barriers and enablers to uptake and may inform technological and implementation strategies to drive successful usage.

BACKGROUND Electronic patient questionnaires are becoming ubiquitous in health care. To address care gaps that contribute to poor asthma management, we developed the Electronic Asthma Management System, which includes a previsit electronic patient questionnaire linked to a computerized clinical decision support system. OBJECTIVE This study aims to identify the determinants (barriers and enablers) of patient uptake and completion of a previsit mobile health questionnaire. METHODS We conducted semistructured interviews with adult patients with asthma in Toronto, Canada. After demonstrating the questionnaire, participants completed the questionnaire using their smartphones and were then interviewed regarding perceived barriers and enablers to using and completing the questionnaire. Interview questions were based on the Theoretical Domains Framework to identify the determinants of health-related behavior. We generated themes that addressed the enablers and barriers to the uptake and completion of the questionnaire. RESULTS In total, 12 participants were interviewed for saturation. Key enablers were as follows: the questionnaire was easy to complete without additional knowledge or skills and was perceived as a priority and responsibility for patients, use could lead to more efficient and personalized care, completion on one’s own time would be convenient, and uptake and completion could be optimized through patient reminders. Concerns about data security, the usefulness of questionnaire data, the stress of completing it accurately and on time, competing priorities, and preferences to complete the questionnaire on other devices were the main barriers. CONCLUSIONS The barriers and enablers identified by patients should be addressed by developing implementation strategies to enhance e-questionnaire use and completion by patients. As the use of e-questionnaires grows, our findings will contribute to implementation efforts across settings and diseases.

BACKGROUND mHealth tablet-based interventions are increasingly being studied and deployed in various health care settings, yet little knowledge exists regarding patient uptake and acceptance or how patient demographics influence these important implementation metrics. OBJECTIVE To determine which factors influence the uptake and successful completion of an mHealth tablet questionnaire by analyzing its implementation in a primary care setting. METHODS We prospectively studied a patient-facing electronic touch-tablet asthma questionnaire deployed as part of the Electronic Asthma Management System. We describe tablet uptake and completion rates and corresponding predictor models for these behaviors. RESULTS The tablet was offered to and accepted by patients in 891/1715 (52.0%) visits. Patients refused the tablet in 33.0% (439/1330) visits in which it was successfully offered. Patients aged older than 65 years of age (odds ratio [OR] 2.30, 95% CI 1.33-3.95) and with concurrent chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR 2.22, 95% CI 1.05-4.67) were more likely to refuse the tablet, and those on an asthma medication (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.30-0.99) were less likely to refuse it. Once accepted, the questionnaire was completed in 784/891 (88.0%) instances, with those on an asthma medication (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.32-0.88) being less likely to leave it incomplete. CONCLUSIONS Older age predicted initial tablet refusal but not tablet questionnaire completion, suggesting that perceptions of mHealth among older adults may negatively impact uptake, independent of usability. The influence of being on an asthma medication suggests that disease severity may also mediate mHealth acceptance. Although use of mHealth questionnaires is growing rapidly across health care settings and diseases, few studies describe their real-world acceptance and its predictors. Our results should be complemented by qualitative methods to identify barriers and enablers to uptake and may inform technological and implementation strategies to drive successful usage.