In her debut blog, Philippa Clery presents the findings of three studies from the NIHR Mental Health Policy Research Unit, which explore the acceptability and efficacy of telemental health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[read the full story...]Therapeutic alliance and goal setting in youth mental health #ActiveIngredientsMH
Jenna Jacob and Jermaine Dambi summarise a recent study which looks at therapeutic alliance in remote versus in-person settings.
They also present initial findings from their two active ingredients reviews which explore working alliance, collaborative goal setting and tracking for young people with depression or anxiety.
[read the full story...]The Care Ecosystem: telephone support to help people with dementia and their carers
A UCL MSc group of students review a US randomised controlled trial of the ‘Care Ecosystem’; collaborative care for dementia delivered by telephone and internet, which suggests improvements in quality of life and caregiver well-being, and reductions in health service use.
[read the full story...]Staff views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health services and service users #COVIDMentalHealth
Charlotte Huggett reviews a recent mixed-methods study from the Mental Health Policy Research Unit, which explores mental health staff views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health patients and services.
[read the full story...]How can digital technology help close the mortality gap for people with severe mental illness?
Lina Gega from the Closing the Gap Network explores a recent review of digital technology for health promotion, which looks at opportunities to address excess mortality in people living with severe mental illness.
[read the full story...]Collaborative care may help older adults with subthreshold depression: CASPER trial
Ben Hannigan summarises the new CASPER trial of collaborative care versus usual care for older adults with subthreshold depression.
[read the full story...]Telehealth for depression: large pragmatic RCT of complex intervention
Emily Stapley presents the findings of a trial which looks at the effectiveness of an integrated telehealth service for patients with depression.
[read the full story...]Empowering patients can lead to fewer hospital readmissions, according to small RCT
Clarissa Giebel presents the findings of a small RCT that evaluates the impact of a social work care coordination intervention on hospital readmissions in older adults.
[read the full story...]Helping people with depression return to work
Meg Fluharty reports on a new Cochrane review of interventions to improve return to work in depressed people. The review finds moderate quality evidence for a range of work-directed and clinical interventions that can help people with depression return to work.
[read the full story...]Latest evidence from NICE on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD)
Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a condition that has recently been given a significant amount of TV airplay and media coverage, perhaps most notably in the Channel 4 documentary Jon Richardson: A little bit OCD, which received mostly good reviews from mental health groups. Despite this reasonable public profile, our knowledge about the best way [read the full story…]