09:30-11:10 | Room 704 Saturday Onsite Presentation Session 1

Mental Health

Session Chair: Ying Wai Bryan Ho

09:30-09:55

68101 | Who Believes in Fake News? A New and Holistic Approach to Understanding Susceptibility to (Mis)information

as a Psycho-cognitive Phenotype

Rafal Rygula, Maj Institute of Pharmacology Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland

The contemporary media landscape is saturated with ubiquitous disinformation, posing a serious threat to democracy, socio-political stability, and mental health. The present work constitutes a review of a series of experiments conducted in our laboratory that were using a newly developed (mis)information susceptibility scale and a battery of cognitive and psychometric tests. The studies were conducted in a nonclinical population recruited via the online recruitment panel Prolific Academic linked with Qualtrics and Millisecond Inquisit web testing platforms. In my talk, I will focus on the mechanisms determining the dissemination of information, with a particular emphasis on cognitive processes and personality traits that contribute to susceptibility to fake news. I will also talk about the characteristics of the information that make it trustworthy and disseminated and will explain why the probability of behavioral engagement with information is more related to its congruency with the individuals’ preconceived beliefs than it is to its objective truthfulness. Furthermore, I will argue that believing in misinformation does not imply denying the truth and will demonstrate that various phenotypes of sensitivity (mis)information are associated with differences in cognitive processes and personality traits. Finally, I will discuss recent research, which demonstrated that willingness to behaviorally engage with the news can be manipulated pharmacologically. To conclude I will present a basis for a new and holistic approach to understanding susceptibility to (mis)information as a psycho-cognitive phenotype. --Supported by the EEA Financial Mechanism 2014-2021. Project: 2019/35/J/HS6/03498--

09:55-10:20

67539 | Understanding What People Value in Psychological Services and the Acceptability of Digital and Non-digital Treatments From People With Depression

Larry Auyeung, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Ella Tsang, StoryTaler, Hong Kong

Winnie Mak, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

This study aimed to understand users’ perspectives towards different depression treatments, especially on the novel E-services. 113 participants with depression were asked to rank the importance of 15 psychological service attributes and rate how various depression treatment options satisfy their expectations. Survey also assessed potential predictors of adoption. Most of the participants were aware of the existence of E-mental health services. Effectiveness was ranked as the most critical service attribute. Digital mental health services met users’ expectations to the same extent as non-digital mental health services for most of the service attributes. Digital mental health services outperformed face-to-face psychotherapy in fulfilling users’ expectations on waiting time, cost, timely support, anonymity, transportation cost, and flexible time in service provision. Yet, repeated measure ANOVA showed that participants considered face-to-face psychotherapy as the most effective treatment. Tele-mental health services were perceived as less effective, F (6,104) =24.78, p<.001. Nevertheless, participants indicated a similar likelihood of using face-to-face psychotherapy and Internet-based psychotherapy in the future. Mobile app services, bibliotherapy, and medication were the least likely to be adopted. Regression analysis showed that E-readiness predicted the likelihood of use of Internet-based psychotherapy, and awareness did not predict its future likelihood of use. While the effectiveness of face-to-face psychotherapy was equivalent to that of Internet-based psychotherapy, this study showed it was not the same case from consumers’ perspectives. Future implementation work on E-service may consider de-buffing the misconception on the effectiveness of E-service, promoting its service strength, and improving users’ E-readiness.

10:20-10:45

69151 | Psychometric Properties of IGM-ACs (IGM-Across the Continuum Scale): A Mental Health Screening Tool

Ivy Moriño, Central Bicol State University of Agriculture, Philippines

The WHO (2018) defined mental health as a state of well-being in which an individual realizes their full potential and can cope with the everyday stresses of life, work productively and fruitfully, and contribute to society. Moreover, mentally healthy individuals are productive and successful in their studies and careers; thus, they could give back to the community (Vardeleon & Merejilla, 2019). The present study utilized the mental health phase in the framework of the mental health continuum. This paper aims to establish the psychometric properties of the I. Moriño Across the Continuum Scale in terms of factor structures, reliability, and validity. The sample consisted of adults (N=430) in the age range of 17-60 years old. Preliminaries in the test construction were utilized to assess the factor structure of a 72-item Mental Health Phase scale. Using the Varimax Extraction Method, the initial 72-item questionnaire was reduced to 43 with only three factors, while another factor was excluded due to low commonalities. The factors that emerge during the extraction are (1) Flourishing, (2) Manifesting Distress, and (3) Afflicting. The result proved high internal reliability and construct validity for the final 43-item scale. The developing components discovered represent common elements visible in prior studies researching mental health. Findings show that the I.M-ACs is a good measure of the mental health phase.

10:45-11:10

69469 | Can Video-Based Online Mental Health Education Talk Improves the Mental Health Literacy of the General Public?

Ying Wai Bryan Ho, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Mei Yi Tsang, Castle Peak Hospital, Hong Kong

Kai Pan Mark, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

Hok Hoi Pang, Hong Kong Psychological Service Center Limited, Hong Kong

Adrian Low, The Hong Kong Association of Psychology, Hong Kong

Wai Kit Wong, Tung Wah College, Hong Kong

Mental health literacy is defined as individuals’ knowledge and beliefs about mental disorders. This important attribute allows individuals to identify, manage, and prevent from getting mental illnesses. There is evidence that a range of interventions can improve mental health literacy, including whole-of-community campaigns, interventions in educational settings. In recent years, mental health literacy obtained considerable attentions from practitioners and researchers. However, the interests from the above parties does not extend to rural area, which also requires mental health education. A pilot project which involved a 2-hours long university students-led online mental health promotion talk was delivered via video conference platform to the public in Hong Kong. 228 participants from Hong Kong joined the talk. The mental health literacy was assessed before and after the online talk by Mental Health Knowledge Questionnaire, a validated assessment tool for mental health literacy for Chinese. 25 questionnaires were fully completed, and the data was input to SPSS for statistical analysis. One sample T-Test was used to evaluate the mean difference between the two sets of questionnaires (Pre and Post). The results were t = -.076, degree of freedom = 24, p = .940, effect size = .002. The results of the pilot project indicated that the video conference based mental health education talk may need more serious consideration before it is widely used to the public.