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Background: Mental contrasting is a self-regulation strategy that is required for strong goal commitment. In mental contrasting, individuals firstly imagine a desired future or health goal that contrasted with the reality proceeding the goal state, which after reflection is viewed as an obstacle (Oettingen et al. J Pers Soc Psychol 80:736-753, 2001). Mentally contrasting a positive future with reality enables individuals to translate positive attitudes and high efficacy into strong goal commitment., Methods: A systematic review of the literature is proposed to explore the efficacy of mental contrasting as a behaviour change technique (Michie et al., Ann Behav Med 46: 81-95, 2013) for health. The review also aims to identify the effects of mental contrasting on health-related behaviour, as well as identifying mediator and moderator variables., Discussion: This will be the first systematic review of mental contrasting as a health behaviour change technique. With sufficient studies, a meta-analysis will be conducted with sensitivity and sub group analyses. If meta-analysis is not appropriate, a narrative synthesis of the reviewed studies will be conducted., Systematic Review Registration: Review protocol registered on PROSPERO reference CRD42016034202 .

The last thirty years have seen significant advances in cognitive and behavioural psychotherapies and their application in health care/clinical practices. The papers included in this Special Issue describe the adaptations of ACT for HIV, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), and Eating Disorders (EDs); two engage technology in intervention delivery. The third ACT paper involved a Randomised Controlled Trial of a digital, gamified intervention for women and girls at high risk for developing an eating disorder. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is a contemporary cognitive and behavioural therapy that is grounded in functional contextualism and is process-based [[5]]. [Extracted from the article]

Coping with academic demands can be challenging for university students with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Treatment can help them cope and prevent related mental health issues. The present study aimed to investigate the feasibility of a randomized controlled trial for group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), including the use of an app for CBT homework assignments, and to explore the effects of CBT for university students with ADHD. University students (n = 36) participated in the first phase of the study, involving the design of an app to present CBT homework assignments, by evaluating prototypes of the app along with the development team. In the second phase, a pre- vs. post-test design was used. Students with ADHD (n = 7) were offered manual-based CBT once a week for 6 weeks using the app or a paper manual to do the homework, as preferred. University students who took part in the development of the app noted that they would rather use the app than a printed manual. On the other hand, participants in the CBT feasibility study preferred doing homework on paper rather than using the developed app. They all found group CBT and the key elements in the CBT manual helpful. The findings suggest that providing group CBT for university students with ADHD through 6 sessions is feasible and assessing its effects in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) is feasible. Such treatment might improve coping with ADHD symptoms and related mental health issues. Further studies on the development of an app supporting CBT are needed. Trial registration Registry name: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for University Students with Attention-deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). URL: https://register.clinicaltrials.gov. Registration number: NCT 04714866. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the bidirectional relationship between trauma and Substance Use Disorders (SUDs), emphasising the need for integrated treatment approaches. Trauma exposure, often associated with various psychological disorders, contributes to the high comorbidity observed in SUDs. Early childhood trauma, in particular, is linked to vulnerability in developing SUDs later in life. In response to the challenges of treating SUDs, this paper outlines emerging evidence for schema therapy as a transdiagnostic intervention. Schema therapy, an extension of cognitive behavioural therapy, targets maladaptive schemas and core beliefs by integrating cognitive, behavioural, and experiential techniques. Schema therapy recognises the role of unmet core emotional needs in the development of early maladaptive schemas, offering a holistic approach to address entrenched psychological patterns. Empirical evidence suggests a significant association between early maladaptive schemas and SUDs, highlighting the potential of schema therapy in addressing substance use. Despite limited research, studies demonstrate promising outcomes, including reductions in SUD severity and symptoms of comorbid conditions. Clinical implications include the integration of trauma screening in SUD assessments, adopting a holistic approach to treatment, and exploring schema therapy as a viable intervention through rigorous research methodologies. Ultimately, this paper highlights that the integration of schema therapy into substance use treatment programs holds promise in revolutionising the approach to SUDs, providing a nuanced and effective therapeutic intervention for individuals seeking lasting recovery and improved quality of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an article (Asaria in J Eat Disord 11:107, 2023) recently published by the Journal of Eating Disorders, I expressed my lived experience views on the concept of 'terminal anorexia nervosa' (AN), and why I believe that this is a harmful new term. The article was not a response to the original paper in which Gaudiani et al. (J Eat Disord 10:23, 2022) proposed criteria for the label. However, as a result of feedback that my article did not appreciate their criteria, I have written this follow-up paper to build on and reinforce what I previously wrote. This article outlines problems with each criterion in turn, again from my lived experience perspective. It then addresses dangerous ambiguities around how the criteria can be applied safely, and their confusing purpose in the real world. Finally, I discuss the impact of labelling AN sufferers with terms that may suggest their wholehearted allegiance to the illness, in both life and death (or 'till death do us part'). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The development of digital applications based on behavioral therapies to support patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) has attracted increasing attention in the field of rehabilitation. This paper presents a systematic review of research on digital applications based on behavioral therapies for people with KOA., Objective: This review aims to describe the characteristics of relevant digital applications, with a special focus on the current state of behavioral therapies, digital interaction technologies, and user participation in design. The secondary aim is to summarize intervention outcomes and user evaluations of digital applications., Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted using the keywords "Knee Osteoarthritis," "Behavior Therapy," and "Digitization" in the following databases (from January 2013 to July 2023): Web of Science, Embase, Science Direct, Ovid, and PubMed. The Mixed Methods Assessment Tool (MMAT) was used to assess the quality of evidence. Two researchers independently screened and extracted the data., Results: A total of 36 studies met the inclusion criteria and were further analyzed. Behavioral change techniques (BCTs) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) were frequently combined when developing digital applications. The most prevalent areas were goals and planning (n=31) and repetition and substitution (n=27), which were frequently used to develop physical activity (PA) goals and adherence. The most prevalent combination strategy was app/website plus SMS text message/telephone/email (n=12), which has tremendous potential. This area of application design offers notable advantages, primarily manifesting in pain mitigation (n=24), reduction of physical dysfunction (n=21), and augmentation of PA levels (n=12). Additionally, when formulating design strategies, it is imperative to consider the perspectives of stakeholders, especially in response to the identified shortcomings in application design elucidated within the study., Conclusions: The results demonstrate that "goals and planning" and "repetition and substitution" are frequently used to develop PA goals and PA behavior adherence. The most prevalent combination strategy was app/website plus SMS text message/telephone/email, which has tremendous potential. Moreover, incorporating several stakeholders in the design and development stages might enhance user experience, considering the distinct variations in their requirements. To improve the efficacy and availability of digital applications, we have several proposals. First, comprehensive care for patients should be ensured by integrating multiple behavioral therapies that encompass various aspects of the rehabilitation process, such as rehabilitation exercises and status monitoring. Second, therapists could benefit from more precise recommendations by incorporating additional intelligent algorithms to analyze patient data. Third, the implementation scope should be expanded from the home environment to a broader social community rehabilitation setting., (©Dian Zhu, Jianan Zhao, Mingxuan Wang, Bochen Cao, Wenhui Zhang, Yunlong Li, Chenqi Zhang, Ting Han. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (https://mhealth.jmir.org), 02.05.2024.)

Introduction: In the last few years, obesity has become a central issue with more than 2.6 billion people worldwide being overweight or obese. While the risks associated with this condition and its rising significance are widely known, the effect of this attention on screening and treatment remains unsatisfying. This paper explores multiple treatment strategies and evaluates their effectiveness in preventing obesity-related complications. Review methods: We conducted our study as a literature review, with data being gathered via PubMed and Embase. The state of knowledge: Physical activity, behavioral therapy, and proper nutrition remain the foundation for obesity therapy. However, in many cases these approaches are insufficient. Recently, there has been a dynamic development of bariatric surgery, which in comparison to lifestyle modification, results in better long-term effects and improved quality of life. New surgery procedures, such as sleeve gastrectomy and adjustable gastric banding, have shown to be one of the most effective, but they carry a risk of complications. Conclusions: Growing treatment options allow doctors to choose more targeted strategies, based on the patient’s risk factors, overall health status, and compliance. Improvements in surgery, especially laparoscopic techniques have opened new possibilities for patients with morbid obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The process of tailored implementation is ill-defined and under-explored. The ItFits-toolkit was developed and subsequently tested as a self-guided online platform to facilitate implementation of tailored strategies for internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) services. In ImpleMentAll, ItFits-toolkit had a small but positive effect on the primary outcome of iCBT normalisation. This paper investigates, from a qualitative perspective, how implementation teams developed and undertook tailored implementation using the toolkit within the trial. Methods: Implementation teams in thirteen sites from nine countries (Europe and Australia) used the ItFits-toolkit for six months minimum, consistent with the trial protocol. A qualitative process evaluation was conducted. Descriptive data regarding goals, barriers, strategies, and implementation plans collected within the toolkit informed qualitative data collection in real time. Qualitative data included remote longitudinal interviews (n = 55) with implementation team members (n = 30) and observations of support calls (n = 19) with study sites. Qualitative data were analysed thematically, using a team-based approach. Results: Implementation teams developed and executed tailored implementation projects across all steps in the toolkit process. Working in a structured way but with room for flexibility, decisions were shaped by team members' ideas and goals, iterative stakeholder engagement, internal and external influences, and the context of the ImpleMentAll project. Although teams reported some positive impacts of their projects, 'time', both for undertaking the work, and for seeing project impacts, was described as a key factor in decisions about implementation strategies and assessments of success. Conclusion: This study responds directly to McHugh et al.'s (2022) call for empirical description of what implementation tailoring looks like in action, in service settings. Self-guided facilitation of tailored implementation enables implementers in service settings to undertake tailoring within their organisations. Implementation tailoring takes considerable time and involves detailed work but can be supported through the provision of implementation science informed guidance and materials, iterative and ongoing stakeholder engagement, and working reflectively in response to external influencing factors. Directions for advancement of tailored implementation are suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Behavioral disturbance impacts almost 50% of people living with acquired brain injury (ABI) and severely impedes occupational participation. Occupational therapists are appropriately qualified and well placed to address behavioral disturbance. This scoping review analyzes the literature to ascertain approaches used by occupational therapists to treat behavioral disturbance. Method: A literature search of three databases revealed 379 papers for consideration, five of which met inclusion criteria. The Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklists were used for the analysis. This paper employs the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework. Results: Sensory modulation interventions, community-based interventions, behavior therapy, and neurofunctional activity of daily living (ADL) retraining were identified as approaches that could be used by occupational therapists to promote participation for people living with behavioral disturbance after an ABI. Conclusion: According to current occupational therapy literature, evidenced-based behavioral interventions to enable participation for almost half of people living with an ABI are lacking. To promote the occupational therapy role in this area of rehabilitation, further empirical research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing the quality of life (QOL) of people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) has become a significant global health goal, as combination antiretroviral therapy has helped to transform HIV/AIDS from a fatal illness to chronic disease. In this study, we aim to comprehensively describe the growth of research publications and the development of research landscapes regarding interventions to improve QOL among PLWH, as well as to characterize interdisciplinary topics and emerging interests of the research community. English articles and reviews published from 1991 to 2018 concerning interventions to improve QOL among PLWHA were retrieved from the Web of Science. Collaboration among organizations sharing coauthorships and co-occurrence network of authors' keywords was illustrated through network graphs. Latent Dirichlet Allocation was used for classifying papers into corresponding topics. A total of 2304 publications were included in the study. The USA continues to lead in research productivity, followed by South Africa, China, and India. Emerging research themes were found to be the application of multilevel interventions and long-term care, rehabilitation, along with topics relating to mental health issues, behavioral therapy and social supports for patients receiving treatments, and application of e-health approaches in designing and implementing interventions. There has been, however, a modest appearance of topics covering local, cultural, and environmental contexts of interventions. The findings of the study suggest expanding the coverage of psychosocial, behavioral, and contextualized interventions, increasing the involvement of family and community, improving the effectiveness of technology-based and e-health interventions, and developing strategies for lifelong treatment of HIV/AIDS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the last few years, obesity has become a central issue with more than 2.6 billion people worldwide being overweight or obese. While the risks associated with this condition and its rising significance are widely known, the effect of this attention on screening and treatment remains unsatisfying. This paper explores multiple treatment strategies and evaluates their effectiveness in preventing obesity-related complications. Review methods: We conducted our study as a literature review, with data being gathered via PubMed and Embase. The state of knowledge: Physical activity, behavioral therapy, and proper nutrition remain the foundation for obesity therapy. However, in many cases these approaches are insufficient. Recently, there has been a dynamic development of bariatric surgery and new drugs, which in comparison to lifestyle modification, result in better long-term results and improved quality of life. New surgery procedures, such as sleeve gastrectomy and adjustable gastric banding, have shown to be one of the most effective but still carry a risk of complications. As an alternative pharmacotherapy could be considered with currently used medications including liraglutide, semaglutide, tirzepatide, phentermine-topiramate, orlistat, and bupropion-naltrexone. Conclusions: Growing treatment options allow physicians to choose more targeted approaches, based on the patient's risk factors, overall health status, and compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tobacco smoking exacerbates diabetes-related complications; its prevalence is notwithstanding substantial. Persons with diabetes face a number of barriers and challenges to quitting such as multiple lifestyle restrictions; tailored interventions are required for smoking cessation., Objective: To identify research on behavioral interventions for smoking cessation in diabetes., Methods: Studies had to be randomized controlled trials, quasiexperimental or systematic reviews. The behavioral interventions included were: the 5As, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Contingency Management, Health Coaching and Counselling, as compared to standard care. The outcomes were self-reported and/or biochemically verified smoking cessation. CINAHL Complete, MEDLINE Complete, the Cochrane databases of systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials, PsychInfo and PubMed Central were searched until July, 2023. Keywords used included diabetes, smoking cessation and each of the behavioral interventions included., Results: 1615 papers were identified. Three studies on the 5As/brief advice, 4 on Motivational Intervention and 1 on counseling were retained. The results on the 5As and Motivational Interviewing were conflicting. More intensive interventions appear to be more successful in achieving smoking cessation in smokers with diabetes., Conclusions: Future research should focus on the continued development and evaluation of structured smoking cessation interventions based on the 5As, Motivational interviewing and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy., Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Chronic migraine is a disease that significantly reduces the quality of life of patients. It affects millions of people around the world, and is common particularly among young women. Family physicians often encounter the problem of migraine headaches in their daily practice. The diagnostic problem results from absence of tests or imaging studies that can clearly indicate the cause of the headache. In order to establish a diagnosis and exclude secondary sources of pain, doctors focus on a detailed medical history and analysis of symptoms presented over time. Preventive treatment of migraine requires appropriate drug selection after weighing the benefits and risks for each patient. This review paper presents and briefly discusses selected pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods used in migraine prevention. They were selected by searching the PubMed Internet database. The presented non-pharmacological methods include the use of nutraceutics, acupuncture and behavioral therapy. The discussed pharmacological methods include treatment with beta-blockers, topimarate, flunarizine or one of the latest methods - the use of monoclonal antibodies against CGRP. In addition, the use of botulinum toxin type A in the treatment of chronic migraine has also been demonstrated. It should be remembered that the type of therapy chosen should be individualized: according to the patient's preferences, treatment effectiveness, possible side effects or accompanying diseases. Proper management of chronic migraine prophylaxis can significantly improve the quality of life of patients and reduce the frequency of headache attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Obesity is one of the major health problems of today's population and is defined as a body mass index = 30 kg/m2. For a long time, obesity is no longer treated as a result of negligence but as a disease as indicated by the millions of people around the world affected by this condition. It is known that obesity may cause many complications such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, obstructive sleep, apnoea, and several cancers. The only effective treatment of obesity can be pharmacological or surgical, especially when a years-long attempt to change habits has had no effects. Aim of the study This review aims to present the current state of knowledge about non-pharmacological and pharmacological obesity treatment methods. Materials and methods The paper was created based on the Pubmed database. The literature was reviewed using the keywords: "obesity", "obesity treatment", "obesity lifestyle changes", "obesity medications" and "obesity surgery". The current state of knowledge The treatment of obesity requires a multimodal approach to treatment, including the addition of anti-obesity medications or bariatric surgery, or both, to assist people in reaching and sustaining sufficient weight loss to meet treatment goals. Nevertheless, lifestyle interventions are the cornerstone of weight maintenance. The 3 principal components of a comprehensive lifestyle intervention are diet, physical activity, and behavioral therapy. Among available anti-obesity medications include orlistat, phentermine, topiramate, naltrexone, bupropion, liraglutide, and semaglutide. Summary The key challenge in the treatment of obesity is to maintain the effects obtained with multimodal therapy. Without proper motivation of patients and changes in eating and behavioral habits, it is impossible to achieve optimal results, therefore, in addition to medical interventions, more and more attention should be paid to psychological interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During robot-assisted therapy, a robot typically needs to be partially or fully controlled by therapists, for instance using a Wizard-of-Oz protocol; this makes therapeutic sessions tedious to conduct, as therapists cannot fully focus on the interaction with the person under therapy. In this work, we develop a learning- based behaviour model that can be used to increase the autonomy of a robot's decision-making process. We investigate reinforcement learning as a model training technique and compare different reward functions that consider a user's engagement and activity performance. We also analyse various strategies that aim to make the learning process more tractable, namely i) behaviour model training with a learned user model, ii) policy transfer between user groups, and iii) policy learning from expert feedback. We demonstrate that policy transfer can significantly speed up the policy learning process, although the reward function has an important effect on the actions that a robot can choose. Although the main focus of this paper is the personalisation pipeline itself, we further evaluate the learned behaviour models in a small-scale real-world feasibility study in which six users participated in a sequence learning game with an assistive robot. The results of this study seem to suggest that learning from guidance may result in the most adequate policies in terms of increasing the engagement and game performance of users, but a large-scale user study is needed to verify the validity of that observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the hypothesis that psychotherapy seeks to produce changes in attitudes and behaviour through transformation of meanings. Patients come to psychotherapy because they are demoralized by the menacing meanings of their symptoms. The psychotherapist collaborates with the patient in formulating a plausible story that makes the meanings of the symptoms more benign and provides procedures for combating them, thereby enabling the patient to regain his morale. As a result, he feels better and functions more effectively, leading to progressive improvement. Various implications and limitations of this hypothesis are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The past decade has seen an explosion of research in causal mediation analysis. However, most analytic tools developed so far rely on frequentist methods which may not be robust in the case of small sample sizes. In this paper, we propose a Bayesian approach for causal mediation analysis based on Bayesian g-formula, which will overcome the limitations of the frequentist methods. Methods: We created BayesGmed, an R-package for fitting Bayesian mediation models in R. The application of the methodology (and software tool) is demonstrated by a secondary analysis of data collected as part of the MUSICIAN study, a randomised controlled trial of remotely delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (tCBT) for people with chronic pain. We tested the hypothesis that the effect of tCBT would be mediated by improvements in active coping, passive coping, fear of movement and sleep problems. We then demonstrate the use of informative priors to conduct probabilistic sensitivity analysis around violations of causal identification assumptions. Result: The analysis of MUSICIAN data shows that tCBT has better-improved patients' self-perceived change in health status compared to treatment as usual (TAU). The adjusted log-odds of tCBT compared to TAU range from 1.491 (95% CI: 0.452–2.612) when adjusted for sleep problems to 2.264 (95% CI: 1.063–3.610) when adjusted for fear of movement. Higher scores of fear of movement (log-odds, -0.141 [95% CI: -0.245, -0.048]), passive coping (log-odds, -0.217 [95% CI: -0.351, -0.104]), and sleep problem (log-odds, -0.179 [95% CI: -0.291, -0.078]) leads to lower odds of a positive self-perceived change in health status. The result of BayesGmed, however, shows that none of the mediated effects are statistically significant. We compared BayesGmed with the mediation R- package, and the results were comparable. Finally, our sensitivity analysis using the BayesGmed tool shows that the direct and total effect of tCBT persists even for a large departure in the assumption of no unmeasured confounding. Conclusion: This paper comprehensively overviews causal mediation analysis and provides an open-source software package to fit Bayesian causal mediation models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on prior work exploring the use of risk-associated alternative healthcare (RAAH) in Canada. RAAH uptake was surveyed to explore the characteristics of adult RAAH users and the value of established psychometric instruments previously used in alternative healthcare studies in predicting RAAH behaviours: the Control Beliefs Inventory (CBI), the Reward Responsiveness Behavioural Activation System (RBAS) scale, the Positive Attitudes to Science (PAS) scale, the Satisfaction with Orthodox Medicine (SOM) scale, and the brief version of the Susceptibility to Persuasion-II (StP-II-B) scale. Findings suggest RAAH is influenced by gender, age, income, education, employment, chronic illness status, and ethnicity. Engagement in some form of RAAH was common (around 40%) and the most common types of RAAH use reported were physical manipulation and herbal/nutritional supplement use. Other higher-risk AH activities (such as use of toxins and physically invasive procedures) were also reported by about 5% of respondents. The StP-II-B and PAS instruments were predictive of the likelihood of engagement in RAAH behaviours, as illustrated by higher risk tolerance, desire for novelty, positive attitude to advertising and social influence, and positive beliefs about science. The CBI, RBAS, and SOM instruments were not predictive overall. However, the CBI and SOM instruments were predictive of engagement with physical manipulative RAAH activities, while the RBAS was predictive of herbal/nutritional RAAH engagement. These findings can help inform health professionals' understanding of public health-seeking behaviours with respect to risk., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Garrett et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The article discusses the efficacy of cognitive therapy as a treatment depressive disorders. Cognitive therapy is a group of treatments which can be thought of as intermediated between behavior therapy and dynamic psychotherapy, which has three kinds including cognitive restructuring, cognitive behavior therapy and anxiety management. Outcomes of clinical trials using cognitive therapy as treatment of cognitive diseases are discussed. However, studies are still needed for final judgment.

Background: Low-intensity cognitive behavioural therapy (LICBT) has been recommended as a primary intervention in the tiered care for mild to moderate generalised anxiety disorder. However, LICBT for generalised anxiety disorder are markedly diverse and efficacy data on various outcomes have not been systematically reviewed. This meta-analysis aimed to synthesise effect sizes of three NICE-recommended LICBT for generalised anxiety disorder: non-facilitated self-help, guided self-help, and psychoeducational groups. Methods: A systematic literature review of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) examining LICBT for generalised anxiety disorder in the last 23 years (2000–2023) was conducted. Efficacy data for anxiety, depression, and worry outcomes were separately meta-analysed. The study was reported following the PRISMA guidelines. Results: The systematic review identified 12 RCTs out of 1205 papers. The three meta-analyses consisted of 12 (anxiety), 11 (depression), and 9 (worry) effect sizes respectively, including total sample sizes of 1201 (anxiety), 1164 (depression), and 908 (worry). The adjusted effect sizes for reductions in anxiety (g = -0.63), depression (g = -0.48), and worry (g = -0.64) were all in the medium range, favouring LICBT over control conditions. Between-study heterogeneity was significant on anxiety and worry, with no specific moderators identified by meta-regression. Conclusions: LICBT has shown promise as an effective and efficient treatment modality for individuals with generalised anxiety disorder. Future research comparing various LICBT subtypes and treatment components will further inform clinical practice. Trial registration: This systematic review protocol has been registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO; record ID CRD42021285590). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A rise in the reported numbers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) highlights the need for dental practitioners to be more familiar with the treatment approaches for these special needs children to ensure comfortable, well-accepted and efficient management while in dental office. Aim: This paper aimed to acquire a deeper understanding of some of the innovative and best approaches to managing children with ASD in dental settings. Design: A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane databases, and grey literature based on the PRISMA 2020 statement, using main keywords such as: 'management', 'dental', 'children', and 'Autism Spectrum Disorder'. Original full-text papers including randomised controlled trials (RCT) and all other designs of non-randomised controlled studies (NRS) reporting relevant intervention studies in English were included without any publication time limit. The quality of the evidence found eligible for the review were then assessed using the ROB-2 and ROBINS-I tools. Subsequently, the details of management interventions and impact of treatment approaches were compared and discussed. Results: Out of the 204 articles found, 109 unrelated articles were excluded during the initial screening. The full papers of remaining 28 were retrieved and only 15 (7%) articles were eligible to be reviewed; eight RCTs with 'some concerns' and 'high risk' categories particularly concerning their randomisation design, and seven NSRs with 'serious' to 'critical' bias largely due to confounding factors. Conclusion: Our review found inconclusive evidence on the strength of recent psychological and non-pharmacological approaches used to manage children with ASD in dental settings. Small sample size and lack of a control group in certain studies affected the strength of evidence and credibility of the findings. Nevertheless, this review shared informative details on some innovative approaches for better understanding of the management of children with ASD for dental professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managing people with borderline personality disorder (BPD) is an arduous task due to the complexity of the condition. This paper describes the role of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) in a patient diagnosed with BPD who has undergone a modified DBT skill group training. Despite receiving multiple interventions in the past, this patient had her bouts of struggles living with this illness which required a new approach to facilitate her recovery. A trial of a short-term, 12 session-ed treatment of mindfulness-based CBT was commenced. In this case report we describe the challenges and modifications which surpass during this session and literature review on the role of CBT on BPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral leukoplakia is a widely known white oral mucosal lesion which is encountered by dental practitioners specially by oral and maxillofacial surgeons in daily practice. The objective of this article is to update the reader on the concept of treatment algorithm for the management of leukoplakia. Articles were searched through PubMed, Google Scholar and the Cochrane Library (2017 to 2021), confining search to English language with the key words e.g., leukoplakia, white patch, precancerous lesion, premalignant lesion and oral potentially malignant disorders. After initial collection of abstracts of 78 articles, finally 24 papers have been selected for writing up the paper updating on clinico-pathologic characters, diagnosis, evaluation, risk of malignant transformation, management and prognosis of oral leukoplakia. Oral leukoplakia is a common oral potentially malignant disorder. Early diagnosis and screening for oral cancer can potentially subside the mortality and morbidity of disease. Incisional biopsy is mandatory for diagnosis, treatment planning and for checking the prognosis of the lesion. There are no universal modalities on the most appropriate treatment, and despite the treatment disease can recur and undergo malignant transformation in patients. For high-risk lesions, complete excision is recommended and clinician should closely follow up these patients for life. For low-risk lesions and successfully treated cases, routine check-up is recommended by dental practitioners. Health education, counselling the individual, and behavioral therapies are most essential methods of prevention at a primary level by every health care provider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents brief summaries of distinguished papers presented at the annual meeting of the North American Primary Care Research Group (NAPCRG) held in Montreal, Quebec from November 17 to 21, 2017. Topics discussed include how the public uses and values primary healthcare performance data, correlation between family physician burnout and scope of practice, and effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety and depression provided by student trainees.

Background: Psychological interventions have mixed effects on improving employee outcomes, partly due to significant variability across studies and a lack of focus on mechanisms of action. This scoping review reports on the parameters of these interventions and examines intervention content to bring clarity to this heterogeneous topic area and direct future systematic review work. Method: Six databases were searched (Cinahl, Cochrane, Embase, Medline, PsychINFO and Web of Science) from April 2010 to August 2020, and a grey literature search was undertaken. Screening was undertaken independently by two authors. The results summarised country, participant and employment characteristics, psychological interventions and work, health and wellbeing outcomes. 10% of the papers were analysed to determine the feasibility of coding intervention descriptions for theory and behaviour change technique (BCT) components. Results: Database searches yielded 9341 titles, of which 91 studies were included. Most studies were conducted in Europe (78%) and included males and females (95%) ranging in age from 31-56.6 years although other demographic, and employment information was lacking. Musculoskeletal pain was common (87%). Psychological interventions commonly included cognitive behavioural therapy (30%) and education (28%). Most studies employed a randomised control trial design (64%). Over half contained a control group (54%). Interventions were delivered in mostly healthcare settings (72%) by health professionals. Multiple outcomes were often reported, many of which involved measuring sickness absence and return-to-work (62%) and pain and general health (53%). Within the feasibility analysis, most papers met the minimum criteria of containing one paragraph of intervention description, but none explicitly mentioned theory or BCTs. Conclusion: Psychological interventions for employees with chronic pain vary in their nature and implementation. We have shown scoping reviews can be used to assess the feasibility of applying tools from health psychology to identify the content of these interventions in future systematic review work to improve intervention development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Evidence-based treatments for depression exist but not all patients benefit from them. Efforts to develop predictive models that can assist clinicians in allocating treatments are ongoing, but there are major issues with acquiring the volume and breadth of data needed to train these models. We examined the feasibility, tolerability, patient characteristics, and data quality of a novel protocol for internet-based treatment research in psychiatry that may help advance this field. Methods: A fully internet-based protocol was used to gather repeated observational data from patient cohorts receiving internet-based cognitive behavioural therapy (iCBT) (N = 600) or antidepressant medication treatment (N = 110). At baseline, participants provided > 600 data points of self-report data, spanning socio-demographics, lifestyle, physical health, clinical and other psychological variables and completed 4 cognitive tests. They were followed weekly and completed another detailed clinical and cognitive assessment at week 4. In this paper, we describe our study design, the demographic and clinical characteristics of participants, their treatment adherence, study retention and compliance, the quality of the data gathered, and qualitative feedback from patients on study design and implementation. Results: Participant retention was 92% at week 3 and 84% for the final assessment. The relatively short study duration of 4 weeks was sufficient to reveal early treatment effects; there were significant reductions in 11 transdiagnostic psychiatric symptoms assessed, with the largest improvement seen for depression. Most participants (66%) reported being distracted at some point during the study, 11% failed 1 or more attention checks and 3% consumed an intoxicating substance. Data quality was nonetheless high, with near perfect 4-week test retest reliability for self-reported height (ICC = 0.97). Conclusions: An internet-based methodology can be used efficiently to gather large amounts of detailed patient data during iCBT and antidepressant treatment. Recruitment was rapid, retention was relatively high and data quality was good. This paper provides a template methodology for future internet-based treatment studies, showing that such an approach facilitates data collection at a scale required for machine learning and other data-intensive methods that hope to deliver algorithmic tools that can aid clinical decision-making in psychiatry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]