Tag: EBP: Evidence-based Practice

Book: Borderline Personality Disorder For Dummies

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Book Title:

Borderline Personality Disorder For Dummies, 2nd Edition.

Author(s): Charles H. Elliott and Laura L. Smith.

Year: 2020.

Edition: Second (2nd).

Publisher: For Dummies..

Type(s): Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is an extremely serious – and often seriously neglected – condition. Despite around 4 million diagnoses in the US, BPD has attracted lower funding and levels of clinical concern than more “popular” conditions such as bipolar disorder. But there’s no need to lose hope! Borderline Personality Disorder For Dummies, 2nd Edition was written to bridge this gap and help sufferers learn how to break the cycle to lead a full and happy life.

BPD impacts the way you think and feel about yourself and others and can cause long-term patterns of disruptive relationships and difficulties with self-control. It often results from childhood abuse or neglect, as well as from genetic or brain abnormalities – particularly in areas of the brain that regulate emotion, impulsivity, and aggression. Knowing how it works means we know how to manage it, and Borderline Personality Disorder For Dummies – written in a friendly, easy-to-follow style by two leading clinical psychologists – is packed with useful techniques to do just that: from identifying triggers to finding the right care provider.

  • Get a compassionate, actionable understanding of the symptoms and history of BPD.
  • Acquire techniques to identify and halt damaging behaviours.
  • Evaluate providers and the latest therapies and treatments.
  • Set goals and habits to overcome problems step-by-step.

BPD should never be allowed to dictate anyone’s existence. This reference gives you the tools to take your life back and is a must-have for sufferers and their loved ones alike.

Book: Borderline Personality Disorder: An Evidence-Based Guide For Generalist Mental Health Professionals

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Book Title:

Borderline Personality Disorder: An Evidence-Based Guide For Generalist Mental Health Professionals.

Author(s): Anthony W. Bateman (author) and Roy Krawitz (contrbutor).

Year: 2013.

Edition: First (1st), Illustrated Edition.

Publisher: Oxford University Press.

Type(s): Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Over the past two decades considerable progress has been made in developing specialist psychosocial treatments for borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet the majority of people with BPD receive treatment within generalist mental health services, rather than specialist treatment centres.

This is a book for general mental health professionals who treat people with BPD. It offers practical guidance on how to help people with BPD with advice based on research evidence. After a discussion of the symptoms of BPD, the authors review all the generalist treatment interventions that have resulted in good outcomes in randomised controlled trials, when compared with specialist treatments, and summarise the effective components of these interventions. The treatment strategies are organised into a structured approach called Structured Clinical Management (SCM), which can be delivered by general mental health professionals without extensive additional training.

The heart of the book outlines the principles underpinning SCM and offers a step-by-step guide to the clinical intervention. Practitioners can learn the interventions easily and develop more confidence in treating people with BPD. In addition, a chapter is devoted to how to help families – an issue commonly neglected when treating patients with BPD. Finally the authors discuss the top 10 strategies for delivering treatment and outline how the general mental health clinician can deliver these strategies competently.

Book: Eliminating Race-Based Mental Health Disparities

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Book Title:

Eliminating Race-Based Mental Health Disparities: Promoting Equity and Culturally Responsive Care Across Settings.

Author(s): Monnica Williams (PhD), Daniel C. Rosen (PhD), and Jonathan W. Kanter (PhD) (Editors).

Year: 2019.

Edition: First (1st).

Publisher: New Harbinger.

Type(s): Paperback and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Eliminating Race-Based Mental Health Disparities offers concrete guidelines and evidence-based best practices for addressing racial inequities and biases in clinical care.

Perhaps there is no subject more challenging than the intricacies of race and racism in American culture. More and more, it has become clear that simply teaching facts about cultural differences between racial and ethnic groups is not adequate to achieve cultural competence in clinical care. One must also consider less “visible” constructs-including implicit bias, stereotypes, white privilege, intersectionality, and microaggressions-as potent drivers of behaviours and attitudes.

In this edited volume, three leading experts in race, mental health, and contextual behaviour science explore the urgent problem of racial inequities and biases, which often prevent people of color from seeking mental health services-leading to poor outcomes if and when they do receive treatment. In this much-needed resource, you’ll find evidence-based recommendations for addressing problems at multiple levels, and best practices for compassionately and effectively helping clients across a range of cultural groups and settings.

As more and more people gain access to services that have historically been unavailable to them, guidelines for cultural competence in clinical care are needed. Eliminating Race-Based Mental Health Disparities offers a comprehensive road map to help you address racial health disparities and improve treatment outcomes in your practice.

Clinically Rated Semi-Structured Interviews: An Alternative Gold Standard?

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Research Paper Title

Validating mental health assessment in Kenya using an innovative gold standard.

Background

With the growing burden of mental health disorders worldwide, alongside efforts to expand availability of evidence-based interventions, strategies are needed to ensure accurate identification of individuals suffering from mental disorders.

Efforts to locally validate mental health assessments are of particular value, yet gold-standard clinical validation is costly, time-intensive, and reliant on available professionals.

This study aimed to validate assessment items for mental distress in Kenya, using an innovative gold standard and a combination of culturally adapted and locally developed items.

Methods

The mixed-method study drew on surveys and semi-structured interviews, conducted by lay interviewers, with 48 caregivers.

Interviews were used to designate mental health “cases” or “non-cases” based on emotional health problems, identified through a collaborative clinical rating process with local input.

Results

Individual mental health survey items were evaluated for their ability to discriminate between cases and non-cases.

Discriminant survey items included 23 items adapted from existing mental health assessment tools, as well as 6 new items developed for the specific cultural context.

When items were combined into a scale, results showed good psychometric properties.

Conclusions

The use of clinically rated semi-structured interviews provides a promising alternative gold standard that can help address the challenges of conducting diagnostic clinical validation in low-resource settings.

Reference

Watson, L>K., Kaiser, B.N., Giusto, A.M., Ayuku, D. & Puffer, E.S. (2020) Validating mental health assessment in Kenya using an innovative gold standard. International Journal of Psychology. 55(3), pp.425-434. doi: 10.1002/ijop.12604. Epub 2019 Jun 17.

A Statement on the Mental Health Issues and Psychological Factors in Athletes

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Research Paper Title

Mental Health Issues and Psychological Factors in Athletes: Detection, Management, Effect on Performance and Prevention: American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement-Executive Summary.

Background

The American Medical Society for Sports Medicine convened a panel of experts to provide an evidence-based, best practices document to assist sports medicine physicians and other members of the athletic care network with the detection, treatment and prevention of mental health issues in competitive athletes.

This statement discusses how members of the sports medicine team, including team physicians, athletic trainers and mental health providers, work together in providing comprehensive psychological care to athletes.

It specifically addresses psychological factors in athletes including personality issues and the psychological response to injury and illness.

The statement also examines the athletic culture and environmental factors that commonly impact mental health, including sexuality and gender issues, hazing, bullying, sexual misconduct and transition from sport.

Specific mental health disorders in athletes, such as eating disorders/disordered eating, depression and suicide, anxiety and stress, overtraining, sleep disorders and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, are reviewed with a focus on detection, management, the effect on performance and prevention.

This document uses the Strength of Recommendation Taxonomy to grade level of evidence.

Reference

Chang, C., Putukian, M., Aerni, G., Diamond, A., Hong, G., Ingram, Y., Reardon, C.L. & Wolanin, A. (2020) Mental Health Issues and Psychological Factors in Athletes: Detection, Management, Effect on Performance and Prevention: American Medical Society for Sports Medicine Position Statement-Executive Summary. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 54(4), pp.216-220. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2019-101583. Epub 2019 Dec 6.

Book: When Someone You Know Has Depression

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Book Title:

When Someone You Know Has Depression – Words to Say and Things to Do.

Author(s): Susan J Noonan M.D. MPH.

Year: 2016.

Edition: First (1ed).

Publisher: John Hopkins University Press (JHUP).

Type(s): Paperback, Audiobook, and Kindle.

Synopsis:

Mood disorders such as depression and bipolar disorder can be devastating to the person who has the disorder and to his or her family. Depression and bipolar disorder affect every aspect of how a person functions, including their thoughts, feelings, actions, and relationships with other people. Family members and close friends are often the first to recognise the subtle changes and symptoms of depression. They are also the ones who provide daily support to their relative or friend, often at great personal cost. They need to know what to say or do to cope with the person’s impaired thinking and fluctuating moods.

In When Someone You Know Has Depression, Dr. Susan J. Noonan draws on first-hand experience of the illness and evidence-based medical information. As a physician she has treated, supported, and educated those living with – and those caring for – a person who has a mood disorder. She also has lived through the depths of her own mood disorder. Here, she has written a concise and practical guide to caring fevor someone who has depression or bipolar disorder. This compassionate book offers specific suggestions for what to say, how to encourage, and how to act around a loved one – as well as when to back off.

Dr Noonan describes effective communication strategies to use during episodes of depression and offers essential advice for finding appropriate professional help. She also explains how to reinforce progress made in therapy, how to model resilience skills, and how caregivers can and must care for themselves. Featuring tables and worksheets that convey information in an accessible way, as well as references, resources, and a glossary, this companion volume to Dr. Noonan’s patient-oriented Managing Your Depression is an invaluable handbook for readers navigating and working to improve the depression of someone close to them.

Evidence-Based Practices for the (Web-based) Treatment of PTSD

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Research Paper Title

Understanding How Clinicians Use a New Web-based Tool for Disseminating Evidence-Based Practices for the Treatment of PTSD: The PTSD Clinicians Exchange.

Background

Web-based interventions hold great promise for the dissemination of best practices to clinicians, and investment in these resources has grown exponentially. Yet, little research exists to understand their impact on intended objectives.

Methods

The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Clinicians Exchange is a website to support clinicians treating veterans and active duty military personnel with PTSD, evaluated in a randomised controlled trial (N = 605). This manuscript explores how a subset of clinicians, those who utilised the intervention (N = 148), engaged with it by examining detailed individual-level web analytics and qualitative feedback. Stanford University and New England Research Institutes Institutional Review Boards approved this study.

Results

Only 32.7% of clinicians randomised to the intervention ever accessed the website. The number of pages viewed was positively associated with changes from baseline to 12 months in familiarity (P = 0.03) and perceived benefit of practices (P = 0.02). Thus, engagement with the website did predict an improvement in practice familiarity and benefit outcomes despite low rates of use.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the importance of methodologically rigorous evaluations of participant engagement with web-based interventions.

These approaches provide insight into who accesses these tools, when, how, and with what results, which can be translated into their strategic design, evaluation, and dissemination.

Reference

Coleman, J.L., Marceau, L., Zincavage, R., Magnavita, A.M., Ambrosoli, J., Shi, L., Simon, E., Ortigo, K., Clarke-Walper, K., Penix, E., Wilk, J., Ruzek, J.I. & Rosen, R.C. (2020) Understanding How Clinicians Use a New Web-based Tool for Disseminating Evidence-Based Practices for the Treatment of PTSD: The PTSD Clinicians Exchange. Military Medicine. 185(Suppl 1), pp.286-295. doi: 10.1093/milmed/usz313.

Training Community Mental Health: Local Trainers vs Master Trainers

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Research Paper Title

Evaluating a Train-the-Trainer Approach for Increasing EBP Training Capacity in Community Mental Health.

Background

Research suggests the train-the-trainer (TtT) model may be an effective approach to training community mental health providers in evidence-based practice (EBP).

Methods

This study compared pre- and post-training consultation outcomes as well as standardised measures of trainer attributes and behaviours between university-based master trainers and experienced community-based supervisors, trained under the TtT approach.

Results

Findings suggest local and master trainers are equivalent in terms of clinical teaching effectiveness and trainee-perceived charisma.

Conclusions

Master trainers may have higher trainee-perceived credibility, but training and consultation outcomes are equivalent across the types of trainers, with the exception of behavioural problems where clinicians trained by local trainers and master trainers saw significantly greater growth than those who received training and consultation by master trainers.

Reference

Triplett, N.S., Sedlar, G., Berliner, L., Jungbluth, N., Boyd, M. & Dorsey, S. (2020) Evaluating a Train-the-Trainer Approach for Increasing EBP Training Capacity in Community Mental Health. The Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research. doi: 10.1007/s11414-019-09676-2. [Epub ahead of print].