The identity of clinical associates in psychology: a cross sectional, national survey.

Background: The Clinical Associate in Psychology (CAP) is a new psychological profession within the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. This paper considers the processes developing the CAPs' professional identity, specifically how their roles are embedded within services.

Methods: This study utilised an online survey of CAPs and all academic, clinical and managerial staff involved with CAPs.

An Ecological Mobile Momentary Intervention to Support Dynamic Goal Pursuit: Feasibility and Acceptability Study.

Background: Individuals can experience difficulties pursuing their goals amid multiple competing priorities in their environment. Effective goal dynamics require flexible and generalizable pursuit skills. Supporting successful goal pursuit requires a perpetually adapting intervention responsive to internal states.

Exploring the efficacy of a low intensity psychological intervention for family members and carers of individuals with a first episode of psychosis in early intervention services.

Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy, and explore carers' experience, of a brief carer focussed intervention in an Early Intervention in Psychosis (EIP) service using a mixed methods approach.

Methods: Carers within EIP services were invited to have the intervention, comprising a psychoeducation and wellbeing component, and 153 carers completed routine outcome measures including the Brief Experience of Caregiving Inventory (BECI), The Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-being Scale (WEMWEBS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) at baseline and after the completion of the intervention. Separately, nine carers took part in semi-structured interviews about their experience of the intervention.

Insomnia, depression, and anxiety symptoms interact and individually impact functioning: A network and relative importance analysis in the context of insomnia.

Study Objectives: Insomnia, depression, and anxiety show high rates of comorbidity and functional impairment. Transdiagnostic symptom interactions may be implicated in this comorbidity. This network analysis sought to assess how symptoms of insomnia, depression, and anxiety may interact and individually predict impairment across several domains for individuals with insomnia.

Inter-rater variability in scoring of Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Third Edition (ACE-III) protocols.

Background: Despite its wide use in dementia diagnosis on the basis of cut-off points, the inter-rater variability of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Third Edition (ACE-III) has been poorly studied.

Methods: Thirty-one healthcare professionals from an older adults' mental health team scored two ACE-III protocols based on mock patients in a computerised form. Scoring accuracy, as well as total and domain-specific scoring variability, were calculated; factors relevant to participants were obtained, including their level of experience and self-rated confidence administering the ACE-III.

Life events and treatment prognosis for depression: A systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis.

Objective: To investigate associations between major life events and prognosis independent of treatment type: (1) after adjusting for clinical prognostic factors and socio-demographics; (2) amongst patients with depressive episodes at least six-months long; and (3) patients with a first life-time depressive episode.

Methods: Six RCTs of adults seeking treatment for depression in primary care met eligibility criteria, individual patient data (IPD) were collated from all six (n = 2858). Participants were randomized to any treatment and completed the same baseline assessment of life events, demographics and clinical prognostic factors.

Profiles and trajectories of mental health service utilisation during early intervention in psychosis.

Background: Early intervention in psychosis services (EIS) support individuals experiencing a first episode of psychosis. Support required will vary in response to the remittance and reoccurrence of symptoms, including relapses. Characterising individuals who will need more intensive support can inform care planning.

Is social support pre-treatment associated with prognosis for adults with depression in primary care?

Objective: Depressed patients rate social support as important for prognosis, but evidence for a prognostic effect is lacking. We aimed to test the association between social support and prognosis independent of treatment type, and the severity of depression, and other clinical features indicating a more severe illness.

Methods: Individual patient data were collated from all six eligible RCTs (n = 2858) of adults seeking treatment for depression in primary care.

Reward-Processing Behavior in Depressed Participants Relative to Healthy Volunteers: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Importance: Dysfunctional reward processing is a leading candidate mechanism for the development of certain depressive symptoms, such as anhedonia. However, to our knowledge, there has not yet been a systematic assessment of whether and to what extent depression is associated with impairments on behavioral reward-processing tasks.

Objective: To determine whether depression is associated with impairments in reward-processing behavior.

A network analysis of post-traumatic stress and psychosis symptoms.

Background: Understanding the interplay between trauma-related psychological mechanisms and psychotic symptoms may improve the effectiveness of interventions for post-traumatic stress reactions in psychosis. Network theory assumes that mental health problems persist not because of a common latent variable, but from dynamic feedback loops between symptoms, thereby addressing the heterogeneous and overlapping nature of traumagenic and psychotic diagnoses. This is a proof-of-concept study examining interactions between post-traumatic stress symptoms, which were hypothesized to reflect trauma-related psychological mechanisms, and auditory hallucinations and delusions.

Transitioning to age inclusive early intervention for psychosis.

Aim: Early Intervention in psychosis Services (EIS) have previously restricted access based on age. However, there is now a move to age inclusive service. We aimed to examine differences between early and late onset (>35 years) psychosis to see if a threshold was valid.

The effects of licit and illicit recreational drugs on prospective memory: a meta-analytic review.

Rationale: There are no recent reports summarising the magnitude of prospective memory (PM) impairments in recreational drug users.

Objective: We performed a meta-analysis of studies (with a parallel group design) examining PM performance in users of common recreational drugs (including alcohol and tobacco) who were not intoxicated during testing. Studies were also evaluated for the presence of methodological bias.

Caregiving processes and expressed emotion in psychosis, a cross-cultural, meta-analytic review.

The construct of Expressed Emotion (EE) is a reliable predictor of relapse in psychotic disorders globally. However, cultural differences in the level and manifestation of EE have been reported. This review was conducted in line with PRISMA guidelines to demonstrate the distribution of EE and its domains cross-culturally as well as its relationship with relapse in psychosis.

The development and validation of the Brief Experience of Caregiving Inventory (BECI).

Background: The social network supporting an individual with psychosis may be adversely affected by the experience of caregiving. The Experience of Caregiving Inventory (ECI) is 66 item self-report measure of the impact of caregiving for carers of people diagnosed with psychotic disorders. This study aimed to create a brief version of the ECI, and evaluate its reliability and validity (n = 626).

The network structure of paranoia in the general population.

Purpose: Bebbington and colleagues' influential study on 'the structure of paranoia in the general population' used data from the British National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey and latent variable analysis methods. Network analysis is a relatively new approach in psychopathology research that considers mental disorders to be emergent phenomena from causal interactions among symptoms. This study re-analysed the British National Psychiatric Morbidity Survey data using network analysis to examine the network structure of paranoia in the general population.

Cross-Cultural Applicability of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA): A Systematic Review.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) is widely used to screen for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). While there are many available versions, the cross-cultural validity of the assessment has not been explored sufficiently. We aimed to interrogate the validity of the MoCA in a cross-cultural context: in differentiating MCI from normal controls (NC); and identifying cut-offs and adjustments for age and education where possible.

Sexual problems and post-traumatic stress disorder following sexual trauma: A meta-analytic review.

Objective: Difficulties with sex often develop following sexual trauma, yet are rarely targeted within treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Where outcomes of sexual function are included, they are secondary to other measures. This review aimed to assess whether psychological treatment for PTSD (from sexual trauma) has an effect on sexual functioning.

Process analysis of trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy for individuals with schizophrenia.

Objective: Therapeutic alliance, modality, and ability to engage with the process of therapy have been the main focus of research into what makes psychotherapy successful. Individuals with complex trauma histories or schizophrenia are suggested to be more difficult to engage and may be less likely to benefit from therapy. This study aimed to track the in-session 'process' of working alliance and emotional processing of trauma memories for individuals with schizophrenia.

Psychological treatment for vaginal pain: does etiology matter? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Classification of vaginal pain within medical or psychiatric diagnostic systems draws mainly on the presumed presence or absence (respectively) of underlying medical etiology. A focus on the experience of pain, rather than etiology, emphasizes common ground in the aims of treatment to improve pain and sexual, emotional, and cognitive experience. Thus, exploring how vaginal pain conditions with varying etiology respond to psychological treatment could cast light on the extent to which they are the same or distinct.

Cognitive emotion regulation strategies, alexithymia and dissociation in schizophrenia, a review and meta-analysis.

Aims: Many individuals with schizophrenia are reported to have maladaptive expression and processing of emotion. This may take the form of conscious and implicit processes. Potential regulatory processes underlying schizophrenia are reviewed.

Illuminating magnification.

The DOM has few disadvantages but there is a steep learning curve involved for the new user. Undertaking a training course on the use of the microscope before using it in the clinical situation is highly recommended. There are cost implications also, but entry-level microscopes are competitively priced.