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An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses the various topics within the issue, including the psychological therapies for depression, emotional development, and a study on adults with intellectual development disorder (IDD).

Introduction: There is research highlighting a significant number of adults with intellectual disability within correction facilities including an increased risk for mental disorder in a prison setting. However, there is little evidence on the characteristics of defendants with intellectual disability when presenting to the Criminal court system. Objectives: To establish the characteristics of defendants screened for intellectual disability by Court Liaison & Diversion Services within London, England. Methods: This is a retrospective data analysis of routine administrative data collected by the Liaison and Diversion services across the criminal courts of London, England. Data was analysed on those identified through screening to have intellectual disability in order to compare with those defendants identified to have only a mental illness. Results: 8905 defendants were identified through the database with 347 (4%) of the total identified to have intellectual disability (ID) with just under 16% of those with ID being female. Data will be presented on rates of identified psychiatric disorder, substance use and self-harm risk. There was no significant difference in rates of schizophrenia and depression between two groups. However, the ID group had significantly higher rates of alcohol misuse, drug misuse and current suicide/self-harm risk using chi-square analysis test reporting at the 0.05 level. Conclusions: The findings confirm the presence of small but significant number of defendants with intellectual disability presenting to the Court Liaison & Diversion services. The implications will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Hospitalized smokers often quit smoking, voluntarily or involuntarily; most relapse soon after discharge. Extended follow-up counseling can help prevent relapse. However, it is difficult for hospitals to provide follow-up and smokers rarely leave the hospital with quitting aids (for example, nicotine patches). This study aims to test a practical model in which hospitals work with a state cessation quitline. Hospital staff briefly intervene with smokers at bedside and refer them to the quitline. Depending on assigned condition, smokers may receive nicotine patches at discharge or extended quitline telephone counseling post-discharge. This project establishes a practical model that lends itself to broader dissemination, while testing the effectiveness of the interventions in a rigorous randomized trial. Methods/design This randomized clinical trial (N = 1,640) tests the effect of two interventions on long-term quit rates of hospitalized smokers in a 2 x 2 factorial design. The interventions are (1) nicotine patches (eight-week, step down program) dispensed at discharge and (2) proactive telephone counseling provided by the state quitline after discharge. Subjects are randomly assigned into: usual care, nicotine patches, telephone counseling, or both patches and counseling. It is hypothesized that patches and counseling have independent effects and their combined effect is greater than either alone. The primary outcome measure is thirty-day abstinence at six months; a secondary outcome is biochemically validated smoking status. Cost-effectiveness analysis is conducted to compare each intervention condition (patch alone, counseling alone, and combined interventions) against the usual care condition. Further, this study examines whether smokers’ medical diagnosis is a moderator of treatment effect. Generalized linear (binomial) mixed models will be used to study the effect of treatment on abstinence rates. Clustering is accounted for with hospital-specific random effects. Discussion If this model is effective, quitlines across the U.S. could work with interested hospitals to set up similar systems. Hospital accreditation standards related to tobacco cessation performance measures require follow-up after discharge and provide additional incentive for hospitals to work with quitlines. The ubiquity of quitlines, combined with the consistency of quitline counseling delivery as centralized state operations, make this partnership attractive. Trial registration Smoking cessation in hospitalized smokers NCT01289275. Date of registration February 1, 2011; date of first patient August 3, 2011.

Background The provision of support for people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within the community is improving as a consequence of policy and legislative changes. However, specialist services are not currently provided in prisons. Objectives This aim of the study was to determine the extent of ASD and co-occurring mental health problems among prisoners. We tested the hypothesis that ASD traits would be unrecognised by prison staff and would be significantly associated with increased rates of anxiety, depression and suicidality. Methods ASD traits were measured among 240 prisoners in a resettlement prison in London, UK using the 20-item Autism Quotient (AQ-20). Anxiety, depression and suicidality were assessed using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI). Results There were 39 participants (16%) with an AQ-20 score ≥10; indicating significant autistic traits. Mental health data were available for 37 ‘high autistic trait’ participants and another 101 prisoners with no/low ASD traits. There was a significant positive association between AQ-20 and suicidality scores (r=.29, p=0.001). Participants with ASD traits had significantly higher suicidality scores (means=15.1 vs. 5, p= 0.001) and chi-square analysis showed that they were more likely to have a high suicidality rating (27% vs. 8%, p=0.003) than those without ASD traits. Moreover, those with ASD were significantly more likely to be experiencing a current episode of depression (30% vs. 6%, p<0.001) or Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD) (27% vs. 11% p=0.019). Conclusion Our initial data suggests that severity of ASD traits is a risk factor for suicidality and common mental health problems among prisoners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]