Reducing stigma and sickness absence: can a low intensity psychological intervention help us ‘Prevail’?

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Emmeline Lagunes-Cordoba summarises a cluster randomised controlled trial exploring the effectiveness of a low-intensity psychological intervention to reduce mental health stigma and improve help-seeking in the workplace.

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Mental health: at what cost?

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In their debut Mental Elf blog, Martin Knapp and Gloria Wong summarise a systematic review of cost-of-illness studies, which explores the distribution of the costs between different mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.

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Cost-effective strategies for mental health workplace intervention

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Chris Sampson summarises a review on the cost-effectiveness of mental health workplace interventions, which presents up-to-date evidence on the different things that employers can do to help those in their workforce affected by mental health problems or substance misuse.

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Global pandemic: how do teenagers and families feel?

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Dafni Katsampa reflects on a new piece of qualitative research led by a 15 year old researcher, which focuses on teenagers’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, and presents a set of recommendations for parents and families that cover mental wellbeing, the importance of routine, exercise and screen time.

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The case for investing in anxiety and depression treatment on a global scale

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Chris Sampson looks at a major new economic study into the return on investment of increased coverage for anxiety and depression treatment.

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Stratify, specialise, standardise, analyse: maximising quality and efficiency in elective care

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Our resident Elf Economist Chris Sampson summarises a recent report from Monitor (England’s health services regulator), which looks at how NHS providers can improve productivity in elective care.

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Searching for the cost of bipolar disorder

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Bipolar disorder is associated with high economic costs…or is it? Chris Sampson reports on a new systematic review, which highlights limitations in our understanding.

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“Financial crisis provides a window of opportunity and stimulus for reform” says a Health Foundation report

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This is a summary of an evidence scan produced by The Health Foundation about lessons the NHS can learn from other countries about managing financial crisis.

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CBT in primary care is cost-effective for treatment-resistant depression

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Elf economist Chris Sampson reports on the economic evaluation of the CoBalT RCT, which finds that CBT is cost-effective for treatment resistant depression in primary care.

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CBT is more cost-effective than SSRI alone as treatment for panic disorder

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In addition to its impact on quality of life, panic disorder can have a number of costly consequences such as lost productivity – particularly if also associated with agoraphobia. Cost-effectiveness is therefore an important consideration in choosing the optimal treatment for panic disorder, which might improve value via the cost side of the equation. A recent [read the full story…]