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Cognitive-behavioural therapy is an effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, there are many barriers in accessing this treatment, with stigma being a particularly prominent barrier for many patients. Self-guided internet-delivered cognitive-behavioural therapy (ICBT), which does not require any contact with a therapist, has the potential to overcome this barrier. However, there is limited research on the efficacy of self-guided ICBT for OCD. The aim of the current study was to examine the efficacy of self-guided ICBT for OCD in a large international sample. Two hundred and sixteen participants were included in the study (Mage = 34.00; SD = 12.57; 72.7% female). On the primary outcome measure, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), a medium within-group effect size was found from pre-treatment to post-treatment (g = 0.63), and a large within-group effect size was found from pre-treatment to 3-month follow-up (g = 0.98). Approximately one-quarter to one-third of participants met criteria for clinically significant improvement at post-treatment and 3-month follow-up (11% and 17% met criteria for remission at post-treatment and 3-month follow-up, respectively). These results demonstrate that self-guided ICBT may be an efficacious treatment for individuals with OCD who cannot or do not wish to engage with a mental health professional, resulting in medium to large effect sizes.

Objective: Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) is an effective treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, little is known about the characteristics of individuals who engage with this treatment and whether they are comparable to those who engage in face-to-face treatment for OCD. The aim of the current study was to examine the demographic and clinical characteristics of participants who engaged in a large open trial of self-guided ICBT for OCD and compare their characteristics with those who completed face-to-face treatment for OCD, as described in large, published studies. Method: Three hundred and twenty-three participants (Mage = 33.27; SD = 12.22; 74.1% female) were included in the study. Results: Participants in the ICBT group were significantly younger in age, were more likely to be female, and less likely to take psychotropic medication for their OCD symptoms, compared to participants who completed face-to-face treatment. There were no significant differences between the groups on OCD symptom severity or on depressive symptom severity. Conclusion: Although slight differences in demographic characteristics were found between the ICBT group and face-to-face CBT group, the groups had similar clinical characteristics, indicating individuals who seek both treatment modalities are comparable to one another.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is considered the first-line treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, some individuals with OCD remain symptomatic following CBT, and therefore understanding predictors of outcome is important for informing treatment recommendations. AIMS: The current study aimed to provide the first synthesis of predictors of outcome following CBT for OCD in adults with a primary diagnosis of OCD, as classified by DSM-5. METHOD: Eight studies (n=359; mean age range=29.2-37.7 years; 55.4% female) were included in the systematic review. RESULTS: Congruent with past reviews, there was great heterogeneity of predictors measured across the included studies. Therefore, a narrative synthesis of findings was conducted. Findings from this systematic review indicated that some OCD-related pre-treatment variables (i.e. pre-treatment severity, past CBT treatment, and levels of avoidance) and during treatment variables (i.e. poor working alliance and low treatment adherence) may be important to consider when making treatment recommendations. However, the results also indicate that demographic variables and psychological co-morbidities may not be specific predictors of treatment response. CONCLUSIONS: These findings add to the growing body of literature on predictors of CBT treatment outcomes for individuals with OCD.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common psychiatric condition that results in significant distress and impairment, and high societal costs. OCD is widely considered to be a chronic condition, however, our understanding of the chronicity of the disorder, and the incidence of spontaneous remission, has largely relied on longitudinal studies of individuals who have received treatment. The aim of the current study is to examine symptom improvement and rate of spontaneous remission in individuals with OCD who were assigned to a no-treatment control group within a randomized controlled trial using a meta-analytic approach. Twelve studies (n = 282; mean age = 35.52; 60.03 % female) were included in the meta-analysis. The pooled within-group effect size was negligible (g = -0.14; 95 % CI [-0.25, -0.04]) and only 4 % of participants demonstrated spontaneous remission across an average of 10.92 weeks (event rate = 0.04; [95 % CI: 0.01, 0.11]). Sample size and duration of OCD symptoms significantly moderated the effect size for symptom change. No moderators were found for symptom remission. The findings add to the small body of literature demonstrating that OCD has a chronic and unremitting course without treatment.

In eukaryotes, protein deacetylation is carried out by two well-conserved his tone deacetylase (HDAC) families: RPD3/HDA1 and SIR2. Intriguingly, model plants such as Arabidopsis express an additional plant-specific HDAC family, termed type-2 HDACs (HD2s). Transcriptomic analyses from more than 1300 green plants generated by the 1000 plants (1KP) consortium showed that HD2s appeared early in green plant evolution, the first members being detected in several streptophyte green alga. The HD2 family has expanded via several rounds of successive duplication; members are expressed in all major green plant clades. Interestingly, angiosperm species express new HD2 genes devoid of a zinc-finger domain, one of the main structural features of HD2s. These variants may have been associated with the origin and/or the biology of the ovule/seed.

Over half-a-million adolescents take part in each cycle of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). Yet often, researchers and policy makers across the globe tend to focus their attention primarily on the academic trajectories of adolescents hailing from highly successful education systems. Hence, a vast majority of the adolescent population who regionally and globally constitute the ‘long tail of underachievement’ often remain unnoticed and underrepresented in the growing literature on adolescents' academic trajectories. The present study, therefore, explored the relations of dispositions toward mathematics, subjective norms in mathematics, and perceived control of success in mathematics to mathematics work ethic as well as mathematics performance; and the mediational role of mathematics work ethic in the association between dispositional, normative, and control beliefs and mathematics performance among adolescents in one of the lowest performing education systems, Qatar. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed that Qatari adolescents' dispositional, normative, and control beliefs about mathematics were significantly associated with their mathematics work ethic and mathematics performance, and mathematics work ethic significantly mediated the relationship between dispositional, normative, and control beliefs about mathematics and mathematics performance. However, multi-group SEM analyses indicated that these relationships were not invariant across the gender and the SES groups.

The burgeoning immigrant population in major immigrant-receiving countries in North America and Europe has necessitated researchers and policymakers in these countries to examine the academic success of children of immigration and the factors contributing to their academic success. However, there is sparse research on the academic trajectories of children of immigration in other continents, such as Asia. Hence, the purpose of the present study was to examine first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents' mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics in comparison to their native peers in one of the Middle Eastern countries in Asia, Qatar. The results of the study indicated that both first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents tended to have higher mathematics achievement, intrinsic motivation to learn mathematics, instrumental motivation to learn mathematics, mathematics self-efficacy, and mathematics self-concept than did their native counterparts. Moreover, immigrant adolescents tended to have lower mathematics anxiety than did their native peers. The study also revealed significant differences between first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents with respect to their mathematics achievement and dispositions towards mathematics.

Drawing on data from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and employing multilevel modeling as an analytic strategy, this study examined the relations of adolescent children's perceptions of their parents' attitudes towards mathematics to their own attitudes towards mathematics and mathematics achievement among a sample of 5116 adolescents from 384 schools in the United Arab Emirates. The results of this cross-sectional study revealed that adolescents who perceived that their parents liked mathematics and considered mathematics was important for their children not only to study but also for their career tended to report higher levels of intrinsic and instrumental motivation to learn mathematics, mathematics self-concept and self-efficacy, and mathematics work ethic. Moreover, adolescents who perceived that their parents liked mathematics and considered mathematics was important for their children's career tended to report positive intentions and behaviors toward mathematics. However, adolescents who perceived that their parents considered mathematics was important for their children's career tended to report higher levels of mathematics anxiety. Finally, adolescents who perceived that their parents considered mathematics was important for their children to study performed significantly better on the mathematics assessment than did their peers whose parents disregarded the importance of learning mathematics.