Search

Objectives: The prevalence rates for mental health (MH) problems in cancer patients is high, although reduced uptake of services may be influenced by mental health literacy (MHL). The objective of this study was to investigate the MHL for depression and panic disorder (PD), including treatment preferences in Australian adults who had been diagnosed and treated for cancer, and whether MHL and treatment preferences was influenced by sex, age, and individuals' lived MH experience., Method: A total of 421 cancer survivors (n = 378 females) completed a self-report survey. Participants were asked to specify whether they had a lived experience with anxiety and/or depression, and to indicate treatment preferences for managing cancer-related distress. Two vignettes were administered to assess MHL for depression and PD., Results: The MHL accuracy for depression was higher than PD. Accuracy rates were higher for females with a lived experience with anxiety and/or depression; although the accuracy rate for PD was significantly lower in males. A high proportion of individuals preferred exercise and in-person counselling to manage depression and PD. Internet-based therapies were not strongly preferred for managing MH problems., Conclusions: The MHL for depression and PD is moderate for adult cancer survivors, with higher levels indicated for individuals with a personal lived experience with anxiety and/or depression. Public health campaigns for enhancing MHL should broaden to include individuals experiencing comorbid physical health conditions. Health providers also need to take into account client preferences for evidence-based therapies., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Carer mental health literacy and help seeking are areas that are not well researched in the intellectual disability field. This study aimed to explore the above including service utilization experiences of Australian parents with an offspring with an intellectual disability and a comorbid psychiatric disorder. Method: Forty-one parents took part in an online survey assessing satisfaction and helpfulness ratings of received services. Twenty-six parents also completed items to assess mental health literacy and attitudinal barriers to help seeking. Results: Parents showed good mental health literacy with depression and with challenging behaviour associated with autism and poorer literacy with mixed presentations. Few attitudinal barriers to help seeking were reported. Parents reported varied helpfulness and satisfaction ratings with disability and mental health services. Conclusions: Parents are capable of recognizing the need to seek professional help for their offspring. Implications for service coordination, provision and carer involvement are discussed.

In this study, the authors investigated the relationship between acute stress disorder (ASD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following cancer diagnosis. Patients who were recently diagnosed with 1st onset head and neck or lung malignancy (N = 82) were assessed for ASD within the initial month following their diagnosis and reassessed (n = 63) for PTSD 6 months following their cancer diagnosis. At the initial assessment, 28% of patients had ASD, and 32% displayed subsyndromal ASD. At follow-up, PTSD was diagnosed in 53% of patients who had been diagnosed with ASD and in 11% of those who had not met criteria for ASD; 36% of patients with PTSD did not initially display ASD. In this study, the authors question the use of the ASD diagnosis to identify recently diagnosed patients at risk of PTSD.

AbstractThe expression of contextually appropriate emotions in the workplace is critical to fostering effective interpersonal interactions. What constitutes an appropriate emotional expression is determined by the display rules an employee perceives. Within the emotional labor framework, the management of emotional expression at work (i.e., ensuring alignment with display rules) occurs through the engagement in two primary strategies by employees. These are known as surface acting and deep acting. Despite theoretical efforts to synthesize these strategies with the broader emotion regulation framework and its strategies of expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal, no empirical examination of their relationship exists. The present study aimed to investigate this empirical relationship to provide clarity on the extent to which these constructs (i.e., strategies) are unique across frameworks. A second aim was to assess whether method bias could explain any overlap between these constructs. A total of 800 participants (Mage = 22.4 years, 78.8% female) who worked across a range of service industries completed measures of emotion regulation and emotional labor under two conditions designed to manipulate the presence of method bias (i.e., varying the order of item administration). Participants also completed the DASS-21, a measure of affective symptom severity. Using multigroup analysis, the results indicated that analogous latent constructs (cognitive reappraisal and deep acting; expressive suppression and surface acting) yielded significant, small-to-moderate correlations, and that correlation coefficients were invariant regardless of how items were administered. The pattern of correlations with affective symptoms also differed across constructs. Together, the limited correlations between the analogous strategies, and the differential associations with affective symptoms, suggest a relative independence between these constructs. Findings carry theoretical and practical implications across research and clinical settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has demonstrated that adaptive forms of self‐reflection on stressor events and insight may strengthen resilient capacities. However, the coping insights that emerge during self‐reflection are notoriously under‐researched. In this research, we sought to explore the evidence for the self‐reflective activities and coping insights drawn from the Self‐Reflection and Coping Insight Framework and find evidence of new reflections or insights not captured within the framework. Qualitative analysis was used to examine weekly, written self‐reflective journals completed by Officer Cadets involved in a randomised‐controlled trial of Self‐Reflection Resilience Training. Sixty‐eight Officer Cadets who submitted their journals for analysis were included. Journals were analysed using a deductive thematic approach. Findings revealed that self‐reflective activities occurred frequently over the course of the intervention. Coping insights were comparatively less frequent, but conveyed complex ideas about the self in the context of stressor exposure, broad principles about stress and coping, and nuanced interpretations regarding the interaction between the efficacy of coping approaches and broader contextual and intrapersonal factors. These findings demonstrate the critical role of coping insight during Self‐Reflection Resilience Training, with implications for developing a validated self‐report measure of self‐reflective activity and coping insight. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent theoretical work suggests that self-reflection on daily stressors and the efficacy of coping strategies and resources is beneficial for the enhancement of resilient capacities. However, coping insights emerging from self-reflection, and their relationship to resilient capacities, is an existing gap in our understanding. Given that insights come in many forms, the objective of this paper is to delineate exemplar coping insights that strengthen the capacity for resilience. After providing an overview of self-reflection and insight, we extend the Systematic Self-Reflection model of resilience strengthening by introducing the Self-Reflection and Coping Insight Framework to articulate how the emergence of coping insights may mediate the relationship between five self-reflective practices and the enhancement of resilient capacities. We explore the potential for coping insights to convey complex ideas about the self in the context of stressor exposure, an awareness of response patterns to stressors, and principles about the nature of stress and coping across time and contexts. This framework adds to existing scholarship by providing a characterization of how coping insight may strengthen resilient capacities, allowing for a guided exploration of coping insight during future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the core processes of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is "self-as-context" (SAC). SAC is conventionally taught as an extension of mindfulness, which enables individuals to focus on a stable, grounded, and enduring sense of self that is able to have a flexible perspective. There has been a growing number of studies that have evaluated the effects of the SAC component in improving emotional well-being in various samples. The objective of this systematic review was twofold: (a) to evaluate whether SAC can be effectively taught and assessed in component analyses, and (b) to evaluate whether SAC improves emotional well-being. The electronic databases of PsycInfo and Medline were searched to identify relevant studies with the final search completed in August 2019. All studies that examined SAC as a stand-alone construct were considered. A total of 20 studies (published in 14 papers) met inclusion criteria for this review. Seven studies were based on a single-session lab trial, two studies were based on intervention trials, and 11 studies utilized cross-sectional assessment designs. On the basis of four identified studies, there is only provisional but very limited evidence to suggest that SAC can be effectively taught and implemented as a stand-alone process to manage emotional well-being. Mixed findings emerged in relation to SAC improving emotional well-being. The methodological quality of the studies was variable, which contributed to the mixed outcomes. There is limited evidence to support the use of the SAC component as a stand-alone process in ACT-based interventions, and research recommendations are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: This study investigated the efficacy of guided self-reflection to strengthen resilience in adults over 50 by exploring the effects of the training on mental health and positive emotional outcomes. Design: A nested clustered-randomized controlled trial was conducted to test the efficacy of the training. Measures occurred at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and at four to five months follow-up. Method: Two samples of participants were recruited. First, older employees from a consumer goods company took part in the clustered-randomized controlled trial. Ninety-three employees (mean age = 54.02 years; 36.56% females) were assigned to the intervention (n = 52) or active control (n = 41) group. Second, older adults from the community (n = 51) were recruited (mean age = 58.63 years; 80.40% female) and assigned to the intervention only. Results: Improvements were observed in the community sample, compared to the active control group, across a range of wellbeing outcomes. When training engagement was used as a moderator, positive benefits for the corporate intervention group emerged for highly engaged participants. Mediation analyses indicated that stress-as-enhancing mindset, stressor benefit, and coping self-efficacy acted as possible mechanisms for change in primary outcomes. Conclusions: Findings provide support for the use of guided self-reflection for resilience training with older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine carer experiences with mental health services for individuals with dual disabilities in Australia. This qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with nine parents with an adult offspring with an intellectual disability in 2016. Parents who had received a mental health service for their offspring within the past two years in Australia with adequate spoken English were included. Parents were asked four open ended questions relating to their experiences of mental health services for their offspring. Findings revealed parents reported more negative experiences with mental health services perceived to hold limited expertise in dual disabilities. They also reported difficulties in accessing appropriate services and highlighted the importance of collaboration and adjustments to suit individual needs of their child. The findings are discussed in terms of the implications for service provision and training for practitioners working with families with intellectual disabilities. Acknowledging the important role of carers as key informants and partners in treatment decision making is highlighted as necessary aligning services with best practice standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working with individuals with dual disabilities can be a complex process in the presence of limited evidence base to guide clinical practice. The aims of this qualitative study were to investigate perceptions of best practices of Australian psychologists who work with this specialist population. Thirty-eight Australian psychologists working in the intellectual disability field participated in eight semistructured focus groups. Perceptions of evidence-based practice for individuals with intellectual disabilities and in relation to mental health assessment were explored. Psychologists demonstrated resourcefulness in adapting to limits in available evidence-based practice and in modifying mainstream practice to suit the needs of individuals with dual disabilities. Findings suggest the necessity of practice-based evidence in contributing to the evidence base, and person-centered approaches in relation to best practice for people with intellectual disabilities. Implications for strengthening psychologists' clinical competency and bridging the research and practice gap are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of practice guidelines are available to set the benchmark for best practice when working with individuals with intellectual disabilities and co‐morbid mental health concerns. However, dissemination and implementation of such guidelines in the context of psychologists' work settings has received little attention. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate adherence to current practice guidelines by Australian psychologists working with this specialist population and explore organizational factors that may facilitate or hinder evidence‐based practice implementation. Thirty‐eight Australian psychologists from government disability and non‐government disability organizations working primarily with individuals with intellectual disability participated in eight semistructured focus groups. Psychologists were presented with a summary of a current Australian practice guideline in dual disabilities and asked about their views of best practice adherence and implementation of the guideline including facilitative and hindering factors influencing implementation. Psychologists reported views consistent with current Australian best practice standards but noted a number of barriers impacting on adherence. Facilitators and hindrances to best practice implementation were discussed in relation to views on applicability of current guideline, organizational level considerations, organizational resources and training, organizational operations, and systemic considerations. Findings highlight the importance of a collaborative and systemic approach in order for practice guidelines to be effectively implemented for psychologists working with disabilities. Implications for policy development and training are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of injury site and severity as predictors of mental health outcomes in the initial 12 months following traumatic injury. Using a multisite, longitudinal study, participants with a traumatic physical injury (N = 1,098) were assessed during hospital admission and followed up at 3 months (N = 932, 86%) and at 12 months (N = 715, 71%). Injury site was measured using the Abbreviated Injury Scale 90, and objective injury severity was measured using the Injury Severity Score. Participants also completed the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Clinician Administered Post‐traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Scale. A random intercept mixed modelling analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of site and severity of injury in relation to anxiety, PTSD, and depressive symptoms. Injury severity, as well as head and facial injuries, was predictive of elevated PTSD symptoms, and external injuries were associated with both PTSD and depression severity. In contrast, lower extremity injuries were associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. The findings suggest that visible injuries are predictive of reduced mental health, particularly PTSD following traumatic injury. This has clinical implications for further advancing the screening for vulnerable injured trauma survivors at risk of chronic psychopathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Evidence‐based practice (EBP) has not been well established in the area of intellectual disability (ID) and comorbid mental ill health. Some attempts in the form of policies and practice guidelines have been made. The aim of this study was to investigate assessment practices of Australian psychologists working with adults from this specialist population and explore barriers to best practice implementation. One hundred and two psychologists completed a self‐report online survey exploring barriers to EBP implementation. Sixty‐one psychologists completed questions relating to their practice including diagnostic practices, application of special considerations, and use of specialist resources. Psychologists reported many assessment practices that were in line with current national and international guidelines including utilization of specialist assessment resources, interdisciplinary collaboration, and application of reasonable adjustments to standard practice to suit the needs of individuals with dual disabilities. However, the sample also reported a number of barriers to implementing best practice recommendations such as diagnostic issues, limited access, and awareness of clinical resources and limited access to mental health services. Findings from this study have implications for best practice guidelines and policies in how mental health services for individuals with IDs and their families are delivered in Australia. This includes facilitating collaboration between health and disability services, adequate training, and access to specialist resources and access to mental health services equipped to support the needs of this specialist population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes developmental work underpinning a database resource containing published reports of therapies targeting the psychological consequences of acquired brain impairment (ABI). The resource, entitled the Psychological Database for Brain Impairment Treatment Efficacy (PsycBITE TM ), was primarily developed to aid clinicians to identify and implement evidence-based interventions for individuals with ABI. PsycBITE TM is modelled on the Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) and is available, free of charge, on the internet (http://www.psycbite.com). Reports meeting five selection criteria are eligible for inclusion on PsycBITE TM : (1) the report is a full-length publication in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, (2) regarding populations with brain impairment of acquired aetiology, (3) who are older than 5 years of age, (4) receiving an intervention that targets a psychological consequence of ABI, and (5) the report contains empirical data regarding treatment efficacy. Like PEDro, a distinctive feature of PsycBITE TM is that reports are rated for methodological rigour and ranked in order of their methodological strength. The current paper also reports the results of two inter-rater reliability studies. The identification process, determining whether reports meet the selection criteria, was found to have very high inter-rater reliability (k = 0.92), and agreement on the indexing terms was also very high (97.6%). To our knowledge, PsycBITE TM is the first resource of its kind and it is anticipated that it will provide a vital and unique role in the promotion of evidence-based clinical practice, which has the potential to improve the lives of people with ABI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including comorbid anxiety, mindfulness-integrated cognitive behaviour therapy (MiCBT) and schizophrenia.