Patients' and partners' health-related quality of life before and 4 months after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.

Background: Patients having coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) often depend on their partners for assistance before and after surgery. Whilst patients' physical and mental health usually improves after surgery little is known about the partners' health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in CABG. If the partners' physical and emotional health is poor this can influence their caregiving role and ability to support the patient.

Coronary heart disease risk factors: concordance between patients and partners before and after bypass grafting surgery.

Background: Coronary heart disease (CHD) risk factor reduction is required to maximize the benefits to be gained from coronary artery bypass grafting. Risk factor reduction after surgery, however, is often incomplete and adherence rates are poor. The health behaviors of the cardiac partner can be supportive or can act to undermine the patient's motivation for change in risk factors.

The therapist-client relationship, computerized self-help and active therapy ingredients.

There is strong evidence that a good relationship between therapist and client is associated with positive outcomes after all types of psychological therapy. There is also strong evidence that computer-guided cognitive behaviour therapy (CCBT), in which there may be little or no face-to-face contact, is associated with outcomes that are as good as outcomes after conventional therapy. These two sets of findings can be reconciled by reference to the common factors debate, in that common factors may be as important in CCBT as in conventional therapy; and by reconstruing the therapist-client relationship as a channel through which common and specific factors are brought into play.

Empirically grounded clinical interventions clients' and referrers' perceptions of computer-guided CBT (FearFighter).

Background: Computer-guided CBT has been shown to be a potentially useful way of closing the gap between the demand and supply for CBT. Moreover, this approach has additional benefits in terms of less travel times for treatment, accessibility in remote and unusual locations, increased confidentiality, easier disclosure of sensitive information, and more egalitarian therapist-client interactions. Research on computerized CBT has concentrated on clinical outcomes, but the views of clients on this treatment approach have been relatively neglected.