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Background: Although there is consensus on the importance of involving informal caregivers of people with severe mental illness, interventions are needed to support this., Aim: To explore whether the use of the 'Triangle of Care Card', an instrument developed to help strengthen the role of care-givers in their contact with workers, increases quality of cooperation and care., Method: Three outpatient mental health teams and twelve teams for supported housing started working with the card. Information from files and questionnaires were used to monitor change and compare this with the changes during the same year in ten other teams., Results: Use of the Triangle of Care Card was sparse. When it was used, a broader range of subjects were discussed, including the needs of caregivers. Also, clients were more involved. In teams where the card was introduced, the clients' networks became more apparent and there was an increase in face-to-face meetings with members of this network., Conclusion: Introduction of the Triangle of Care Card leads to change in the involvement of caregivers. However, implementation is problematic and therefore the increase in quality of the cooperation with caregivers and quality of care is yet small.

Background: Sexual abuse in individuals with (above) average iq is associated with a wide range of behavioural and psychological clinical characteristics, including characteristics regarding body experience. However, research on the clinical characteristics of sexually abused individuals with borderline intellectual functioning or mild intellectual disability (bif-mid) is scarce. OBJECTIVE To provide an overview of the literature on the clinical characteristics of sexually abused individuals with bif-mid.
METHOD: PubMed, Embase, PsycInfo, cinahl, Cochrane Library and Web of Science were searched for relevant publications using terms related to 'intellectual disability' and 'sexual abuse'.
RESULTS: Seven studies were included. The studies in question mostly reported behavioural and psychological characteristics such as challenging behaviour, sexualised behaviour or posttraumatic stress, anxiety or depressive symptoms associated with sexual abuse in individuals with bif-mid. None of the studies reported problems regarding body experience. CONCLUSIONS Sexual abuse in individuals with bif-mid is associated with a broad range of behavioural and psychological characteristics similar to that of individuals with (above) average iq. Whether sexually abused individuals with bif-mid have similar problems in body experience as sexually abused individuals with (higher than) average iq needs to be investigated.

Background: Individuals with eating disorders tend to internalise their anger and aggression excessively. However, an evidence-based intervention, targeted on this persistent issue, was missing until now. Therefore, a body and movement oriented intervention was developed, which supports patients to reframe and redirect anger and aggression against the destructive influence of the eating disorder.
AIM: To study the effectiveness of the aggression regulation intervention.
METHOD: The intervention was tested in a first randomised controlled trial (RCT) in an outpatient setting and in a two-center RCT in a multidisciplinary day hospital setting. Coping with anger was measured by the Self-Expression and Control Scale (SECS). Eating disorder pathology was measured by the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q).
RESULTS: Both RCTs delivered first evidence for the brief body and movement oriented intervention to reduce excessive anger internalisation in individuals with eating disorders. Moreover, in the outpatient trial the eating disorder pathology was significantly more reduced in the intervention group compared to the control group.
CONCLUSION: There is first evidence for the effectiveness of a body and movement oriented approach of reducing excessive anger internalisation in individuals with eating disorders.

Background: In the Netherlands the Boston psychiatric rehabilitation approach (bpr) is one of the most widely implemented rehabilitation methods. So far, little research has been done on the efficacy of this approach., Aim: To investigate the effect of bpr on the attainment of personal rehabilitation goals, social functioning and empowerment and on care requirements and quality of life in persons with severe mental illness (smi) in the Netherlands., Method: In a multicentre randomised controlled trial (rct:, Clinical Trial Registration Number: isrctn73683215) patients with smi were randomly assigned to bpr (n = 80) or 'care as usual' (cau; n = 76). The primary outcome was the attainment of the rehabilitation goal as formulated by the patient. The secondary outcomes were a change in the work situation and in the degree of independent living, in care requirements (Camberwell Assessment of Needs), in empowerment (Personal Empowerment Scale) and in the quality of life (who-qol). The effects were tested at 12 and 24 months., Results: The degree of goal attainment was substantially higher in bpr at both 12 months (adjusted risk difference: 16%; 95%ci, 2 to 31; nnt = 7) and 24 months (adjusted risk difference: 21%, 95%ci, 4% to 38%; nnt = 5). The approach was also more effective in the area of societal participation (bpr: 21% adjusted increase, cau: 0% adjusted increase; nnt = 5), but not in the other secondary outcome measures., Conclusion: The results suggest that bpr is effective in supporting patients with smi to reach self-formulated rehabilitation goals and in enhancing their societal participation.

Background: It is becoming increasingly clear that people with severe mental illness (SMI) are in need of support with parenting. So far, however, little is known about how many persons fall into this category., Aim: To estimate how many SMI patients aged 18 to 65 are parents with children and how many need help with parenting., Method: We based our estimate on epidemiological studies and on official records and data relating to SMI patients for the year 2009., Results: We estimated that 48% of patients with smi had children. The total number of such patients for the year 2009 was 68,000; this figure represents 0.9% of the Dutch population in the 18-64 age-group., Conclusion: Health professionals and carers need to be alerted to the fact that almost 50%of the patients with SMI require possibly help in fulfilling their parental role. Potential problems in the parent-child relationship need to be registered in greater details so that more adequate care can be provided both at individual level and national level.