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Resilience Training: Guided Self-reflection as an Alternative to Coping Skills in Military Officer Cadets

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Research Paper Title

Strengthening resilience in military officer cadets: A group-randomized controlled trial of coping and emotion regulatory self-reflection training.

Background

This group-randomised control trial examined the efficacy of guided coping and emotion regulatory self-reflection as a means to strengthen resilience by testing the effects of the training on anxiety and depression symptoms and perceived stressor frequency after an intensive stressor period.

Methods

The sample was 226 officer cadets training at the Royal Military College, Australia. Cadets were randomised by platoon to the self-reflection (n = 130) or coping skills training (n = 96). Surveys occurred at 3 time points: baseline, immediately following the final reflective session (4-weeks post-baseline), and longer-term follow-up (3-months post-initial follow-up).

Results

There were no significant baseline differences in demographic or outcome variables between the intervention groups. On average, cadets commenced the resilience training with mild depression and anxiety symptoms. Analyses were conducted at the individual-level after exploring group-level effects.

No between-groups differences were observed at initial follow-up. At longer-term follow-up, improvements in mental health outcomes were observed for the self-reflection group, compared with the coping skills group, on depression (Cohen’s d = 0.55; 95% CI [0.24, 0.86]), anxiety symptoms (Cohen’s d = 0.69; 95% CI [0.37, 1.00]), and perceived stressor frequency (Cohen’s d = 0.46; 95% CI [0.15, 0.77]).

Longitudinal models demonstrated a time by condition interaction for depression and anxiety, but there was only an effect of condition for perceived stressor frequency. Mediation analyses supported an indirect effect of the intervention on both anxiety and depression via perceived stressor frequency.

Conclusions

Findings provide initial support for the use of guided self-reflection as an alternative to coping skills approaches to resilience training.

Reference

Crane, M.F., Boga, D., Karin, E., Gucciardi, D.F., Rapport, F., Callen, J. & Sinclair, L. (2019) Strengthening resilience in military officer cadets: A group-randomized controlled trial of coping and emotion regulatory self-reflection training. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 87(2), pp.125-140. doi: 10.1037/ccp0000356. Epub 2018 Nov 29.

Linking Spatial Working Memory, Affective Disorders, & Mild Current Depression

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Research Paper Title

[Disorders of spatial working memory in affective disorders with mild current depression and their neurophysiological correlates].

Background

To assess spatial working memory disorders in patients with mild depressive disorders and determine their neurophysiological correlates.

Methods

Thirty patients (right-handed) with ICD-10 diagnosis Mood Disorders (F31.3, F32.0, F33.0, F34.1), aged 37±8 years, were examined before treatment. A control group included 30 mentally and somatically healthy individuals (32±7 years old). The study of spatial working memory was carried out using the Corsi Block-Tapping test. EEG was recorded and the values of the spectral power of theta, alpha and beta rhythms were analysed.

Results and Conclusions

A decrease in the level of working memory that was correlated with higher values of theta rhythm power in the frontal and occipital regions and alpha rhythm in the frontal cortex was observed in affective disorders with mild depressive symptoms.

Reference

Galkin, S.A., Peshkovskaya, A.G., Simutkin, G.G., Vasil’eva, S.N., Roshchina, O.V., Ivanova, S.A. & Bokhan, N.A. (2019) [Disorders of spatial working memory in affective disorders with mild current depression and their neurophysiological correlates]. (in Russian). Zhurnal Nevrologii i Psikhiatrii Imeni S.S. Korsakova. 119(10):56-61. doi: 10.17116/jnevro201911910156.

What is the Sustainability of a Biobehavioural Intervention Implemented by Therapists & Sustainment in Community Settings?

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Research Paper Title

Sustainability of a biobehavioral intervention implemented by therapists and sustainment in community settings.

Background

The ultimate aim of dissemination and implementation of empirically supported treatments (ESTs) in behavioural medicine is:

  • Sustainability of the therapist/provider’s EST usage; and
  • Sustainment of EST delivery in the setting.

Thus far, sustainability has been understudied, and the therapist and setting variables that may be influential are unclear.

The purpose of the study was to test the therapists’ sustainability of a cancer-specific EST using a prospective longitudinal design and examine its predictors.

Methods

Oncology mental health therapists (N = 134) from diverse settings (N = 110) completed training in the biobehavioural intervention (BBI) and were provided with 6 months of support for implementation, with no support thereafter. BBI usage (percent of patients treated) was reported at 2, 4, 6, and 12 months.

Using a generalised estimating equation with a logistic link function, 12-month sustainability (a non-significant change in usage from 6 to 12 months) was studied along with therapist, supervisor, and setting variables as predictors.

Results

BBI usage increased through 6 months and, importantly, usage was sustained from 6 (68.4% [95% CI = 62.2%-73.9%]) to 12 months (70.9% [95% CI = 63.6%-77.3%]), with sustainment in 66 settings (60.0%).

Predictors of implementation-to-sustainability usage were therapists’ early intentions to use the BBI (p < .001) and from the setting, supervisors’ positive attitudes toward ESTs (p = .016).

Conclusions

Adding to the DI literature, a health psychology intervention was disseminated, implemented, and found sustainable across diverse therapists and settings.

Therapists and setting predictors of usage, if modified, might facilitate future sustainability/sustainment of ESTs.

Reference

Ryba, M.M., Lo, S.B. & Andersen, B.L. (2019) Sustainability of a biobehavioral intervention implemented by therapists and sustainment in community settings. Translational Behavioral Medicine. pii: ibz175. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibz175. [Epub ahead of print].

Timely Referrals from Primary Care to Specialty Mental Health, and Back

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Research Paper Title

Provider perspectives on a clinical demonstration project to transition patients with stable mental health conditions to primary care.

Background

Research to improve access to mental healthcare often focuses on increasing timely referrals from primary care (PC) to specialty mental health (SMH).

However, timely and appropriate transitions back to PC are indispensable for increasing access to SMH for new patients.

Methods

The researchers developed and implemented a formalised process to identify patients eligible for transition from SMH to PC.

The FLOW intervention was piloted at a Veterans Health Administration community-based outpatient clinic. Qualitatively examine provider perspectives regarding patient transitions at initiation and termination of the FLOW project.

Sixteen mental health providers and three PC staff completed qualitative interviews about the benefits and drawbacks of FLOW at initiation. Ten mental health providers and one PC staff completed interviews at 12-month follow-up. Primary benefits anticipated at initiation were that FLOW would increase access to SMH, provide acknowledgement of veterans’ recovery, and differentiate between higher and lower intensity mental health services.

Results

SMH providers reported additional perceived benefits at 12-month follow-up, including:

  • Decreased stress over their caseloads; and
  • Increased ability to deliver efficient, effective treatment.

Anticipated drawbacks at initiation were that veterans would get inconsistent care, PC could not offer the same level of care as SMH, and veterans might view transition as a rejection by their SMH provider.

Perceived drawbacks were similar at 12-month follow-up, but there was less frequent endorsement.

Conclusions

Findings highlight need for sustained and frequent provider education regarding:

  1. The appropriate characteristics of individuals eligible for transition; and
  2. Established procedures to ensure care coordination during and after transition.

Reference

Fletcher, T.L., Johnson, A.L., Kim, B., Yusuf, Z., Benzer, J. & Smith, T. (2019) Provider perspectives on a clinical demonstration project to transition patients with stable mental health conditions to primary care. Translational Behavioral Medicine. pii: ibz172. doi: 10.1093/tbm/ibz172. [Epub ahead of print].

What are the Factors Associated with Anxiety Disorders among Patients with Substance Use Disorders

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Research Paper Title

Factors associated with anxiety disorders among patients with substance use disorders in Lebanon: Results of a cross-sectional study.

Background

Estimate the rate of anxiety disorders (AD) and associated factors among patients with substance use disorder (SUD) in Lebanon.

Methods

A cross-sectional study, conducted between April and September 2017, enrolled 57 inpatients with SUD.

Results

The rate of AD in patients with SUD was 61.4%. The university level of education compared to the primary level of education (ORa = 0.221) was significantly associated with lower anxiety among patients with SUD. Being sexually abused and having a family history of depression tended to significance.

Conclusions

AD is widespread in Lebanon and high rates of anxiety in patients with SUD were found, warranting the implementation of strategic interventions and establishing national policies and legislation for mental health services to provide optimal care.

Reference

Haddad, C., Darwich, M.J., Obeid, S., Sacre, H., Zakhour, M., Kazour, F., Nabout, R., Hallit, S. & Tahan, F.E. (2019) Factors associated with anxiety disorders among patients with substance use disorders in Lebanon: Results of a cross-sectional study. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care. doi: 10.1111/ppc.12462. [Epub ahead of print].

Would a Clinical Staging Tool be useful in Clinical Practice to Predict Disease Course in Anxiety Disorders?

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Research Paper Title

A clinical staging approach to improving diagnostics in anxiety disorders: Is it the way to go?

Background

Clinical staging is a paradigm in which stages of disease progression are identified; these, in turn, have prognostic value.

A staging model that enables the prediction of long-term course in anxiety disorders is currently unavailable but much needed as course trajectories are highly heterogenic.

This study therefore tailored a heuristic staging model to anxiety disorders and assessed its validity.

Methods

A clinical staging model was tailored to anxiety disorders, distinguishing nine stages of disease progression varying from subclinical stages (0, 1A, 1B) to clinical stages (2A-4B).

At-risk subjects and subjects with anxiety disorders (n = 2352) from the longitudinal Netherlands Study of Depression and Anxiety were assigned to these nine stages.

The model’s validity was assessed by comparing baseline (construct validity) and 2-year, 4-year and 6-year follow-up (predictive validity) differences in anxiety severity measures across stages.

Differences in depression severity and disability were assessed as secondary outcome measures.

Results

Results showed that the anxiety disorder staging model has construct and predictive validity.

At baseline, differences in anxiety severity, social avoidance behaviours, agoraphobic avoidance behaviours, worrying, depressive symptoms and levels of disability existed across all stages (all p-values < 0.001).

Over time, these differences between stages remained present until the 6-year follow-up.

Differences across stages followed a linear trend in all analyses: higher stages were characterised by the worst outcomes.

Regarding the stages, subjects with psychiatric comorbidity (stages 2B, 3B, 4B) showed a deteriorated course compared with those without comorbidity (stages 2A, 3A, 4A).

Conclusions

A clinical staging tool would be useful in clinical practice to predict disease course in anxiety disorders.

Reference

Bokma, W.A., Batelaan, N.M., Hoogendoorn, A.W., Penninx, B.W. & van Balkom, A.J. (2019) A clinical staging approach to improving diagnostics in anxiety disorders: Is it the way to go? The Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry. doi: 10.1177/0004867419887804. [Epub ahead of print].

Can Emotional Responses to Stressors in Everyday Life Predict Long-Term Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms?

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Research Paper Title

Emotional Responses to Stressors in Everyday Life Predict Long-Term Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms.

Background

Individuals’ emotional responses to stressors in everyday life are associated with long-term physical and mental health. Among many possible risk factors, the stressor-related emotional responses may play an important role in future development of depressive symptoms.

The current study examined how individuals’ positive and negative emotional responses to everyday stressors predicted their subsequent changes in depressive symptoms over 18 months.

Methods

Using an ecological momentary assessment approach, participants (n = 176) reported stressor exposure, positive affect (PA), and negative affect (NA) five times a day for 1 week (n = 5,483 observations) and provided longitudinal reports of depressive symptoms over the subsequent 18 months.

A multivariate multilevel latent growth curve model was used to directly link the fluctuations in emotions in response to momentary stressors in everyday life with the long-term trajectory of depressive symptoms.

Results

Adults who demonstrated a greater difference in stressor-related PA (i.e., relatively lower PA on stressor vs. nonstressor moments) reported larger increases in depressive symptoms over 18 months.

Those with greater NA responses to everyday stressors (i.e., relatively higher NA on stressor vs. nonstressor moments), however, did not exhibit differential long-term changes in depressive symptoms.

Conclusions

Adults showed a pattern consistent with both PA and NA responses to stressors in everyday life, but only the stressor-related changes in PA (but not in NA) predicted the growth of depressive symptoms over time.

These findings highlight the important-but often overlooked-role of positive emotional responses to everyday stressors in long-term mental health.

Reference

Zhaoyang, R., Scott, S.B., Smyth, J.M., Kang, J.E. & Sliwinski, M.J. (2019) Emotional Responses to Stressors in Everyday Life Predict Long-Term Trajectories of Depressive Symptoms. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. pii: kaz057. doi: 10.1093/abm/kaz057. [Epub ahead of print].

Primary Care Physicians & the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP)

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Research Paper Title

Building capacity in mental health care in low- and middle-income countries by training primary care physicians using the mhGAP: a randomized controlled trial.

Background

To address the rise in mental health conditions in Tunisia, a training based on the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) Intervention Guide (IG) was offered to primary care physicians (PCPs) working in the Greater Tunis area.

Non-specialists (such as PCPs)’ training is an internationally supported way to target untreated mental health symptoms.

Methods

The researchers aimed to evaluate the programme’s impact on PCPs’ mental health knowledge, attitudes, self-efficacy and self-reported practice, immediately following and 18 months after training.

They conducted an exploratory trial with a combination of designs: a pretest-posttest control group design and a one-group pretest-posttest design were used to assess the training’s short-term impact; and a repeated measures design was used to assess the training’s long-term impact.

The former relied on a delayed-intervention strategy: participants assigned to the control group (Group 2) received the training after the intervention group (Group 1).

The intervention consisted of a weekly mhGAP-based training session (totalling 6 weeks), comprising lectures, discussions, role plays and a support session offered by trainers.

Data were collected at baseline, following Group 1’s training, following Group 2’s training and 18 months after training. Descriptive, bivariate and ANOVA analyses were conducted.

Overall, 112 PCPs were randomised to either Group 1 (n = 52) or Group 2 (n = 60).

Results

The training had a statistically significant short-term impact on mental health knowledge, attitudes and self-efficacy scores but not on self-reported practice.

When comparing pre-training results and results 18 months after training, these changes were maintained.

PCPs reported a decrease in referral rates to specialised services 18 months after training in comparison to pre-training.

Conclusions

The mhGAP-based training might be useful to increase mental health knowledge and self-efficacy, and decrease reported referral rates and negative mental health attitudes among PCPs in Tunisia and other low- and middle-income countries.

Future studies should examine relationships among these outcome variables.

Reference

Spagnolo, J., Champagne, F., Leduc, N., Rivard, M., Melki, W., Piat, M., Laporta, M., Guesmi, I., Bram, N. & Charfi, F. (2019) Building capacity in mental health care in low- and middle-income countries by training primary care physicians using the mhGAP: a randomized controlled trial. Health Policy and Planning. pii: czz138. doi: 10.1093/heapol/czz138. [Epub ahead of print].

Mental Health Conditions: Medication & Standing Trial

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In this article (below), Laura Spinney weaves through the ethical grey area of forcing people with mental health conditions to take medication so they can stand trial.

It is an interesting that attempts to look at both sides of the argument.

Read the article:

Trial by Medication (Spinney, 2019)Download

Reference

Spinney, L. (2019) Comment: Trial by Medication. New Scientist. 28 September 2019, pp.24.