A Patient Stratification Approach to Identifying the Likelihood of Continued Chronic Depression and Relapse Following Treatment for Depression.

Background: Subgrouping methods have the potential to support treatment decision making for patients with depression. Such approaches have not been used to study the continued course of depression or likelihood of relapse following treatment.

Method: Data from individual participants of seven randomised controlled trials were analysed.

Complementary medicine use, views, and experiences: a national survey in England.

Background: In 2005,12% of the English population visited a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) practitioner.

Aim: To obtain up-to-date general population figures for practitioner-led CAM use in England, and to discover people's views and experiences regarding access.

Design & Setting: A face-to-face questionnaire survey was commissioned.

Psychological advocacy towards healing (PATH): A randomized controlled trial of a psychological intervention in a domestic violence service setting.

Background: Experience of domestic violence and abuse (DVA) is associated with mental illness. Advocacy has little effect on mental health outcomes of female DVA survivors and there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of psychological interventions for this population.

Objective: To test effectiveness of a psychological intervention delivered by advocates to DVA survivors.

A randomised controlled trial assessing the severity and duration of depressive symptoms associated with a clinically significant response to sertraline versus placebo, in people presenting to primary care with depression (PANDA trial): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial.

Background: Depressive symptoms are usually managed within primary care and antidepressant medication constitutes the first-line treatment. It remains unclear at present which people are more likely to benefit from antidepressant medication. This paper describes the protocol for a randomised controlled trial (PANDA) to investigate the severity and duration of depressive symptoms that are associated with a clinically significant response to sertraline compared to placebo, in people presenting to primary care with depression.

Characteristics of children who do not attend their hospital appointments, and GPs' response: a mixed methods study in primary and secondary care.

Background: Children who do not attend (DNA) their hospital outpatient appointments are a concern because this potentially compromises the child's health and incurs financial cost. Little is known about children who DNA or the views of GPs to non-attendance.

Aim: To describe the characteristics of children who DNA hospital paediatric outpatient appointments, and explore how GPs view and respond to DNAs.

Methodological exemplar of integrating quantitative and qualitative evidence - supportive care for men with prostate cancer: what are the most important components?

Aims: To present a methodological exemplar of integrating findings from a quantitative and qualitative review on the same topic to provide insight into components of care that contribute to supportive care that is acceptable to men with prostate cancer.

Background: Men with prostate cancer are likely to live a long time with the disease, experience side effects from treatment and therefore have ongoing supportive care needs. Quantitative and qualitative reviews have been published but the findings have yet to be integrated.

Antenatal needs of couples following fertility treatment: a qualitative study in primary care.

Background: It is known that couples may experience emotional distress while undergoing infertility treatment, but less is known about their experience of pregnancy following successful conception. Typically, couples are discharged from the fertility clinic to receive standard antenatal care. Recent research has raised questions about whether this care adequately meets their needs.

Clinical features of metastatic cancer in primary care: a case-control study using medical records.

Background: How metastatic cancer initially presents is largely unknown.

Aim: To identify clinical features of metastatic cancer in primary care.

Design And Setting: Case-control study in 11 general practices in Devon, UK.

Supportive care for men with prostate cancer: why are the trials not working? A systematic review and recommendations for future trials.

Men with prostate cancer are likely to have a long illness and experience psychological distress for which supportive care may be helpful. This systematic review describes the evidence for effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of supportive care for men with prostate cancer, taking into account treatment pathway and components of interventions. MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, CENTRAL, and Psychinfo were searched from inception--July 2013 for randomized controlled trials and controlled trials.

Changing eating behaviours to treat childhood obesity in the community using Mandolean: the Community Mandolean randomised controlled trial (ComMando)--a pilot study.

Background: Around one in five children in England is obese when they leave primary school. Thus far, it has not been demonstrated that primary care interventions to manage childhood obesity can achieve significant weight reduction. Training obese children to eat more slowly as an adjunct to other healthy lifestyle behaviour change has been shown to increase weight reduction in a hospital setting.

Objectively assessed physical activity and subsequent health service use of UK adults aged 70 and over: a four to five year follow up study.

Objectives: To examine the associations between volume and intensity of older peoples' physical activity, with their subsequent health service usage over the following four to five years.

Study Design: A prospective cohort design using baseline participant characteristics, objectively assessed physical activity and lower limb function provided by Project OPAL (Older People and Active Living). OPAL-PLUS provided data on numbers of primary care consultations, prescriptions, unplanned hospital admissions, and secondary care referrals, extracted from medical records for up to five years following the baseline OPAL data collection.

Case-finding for hepatitis C in primary care: a mixed-methods service evaluation.

Background: Hepatitis C is often asymptomatic, presenting with liver failure and cancer decades after infection. People who inject drugs (PWID) and immigrant populations from countries with a moderate-to-high prevalence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) are the main risk groups. Deaths and hospital admissions due to HCV cirrhosis tripled between 1998 and 2010, but the majority of people with chronic HCV are unaware of it.

Psychological advocacy toward healing (PATH): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Domestic violence and abuse (DVA), defined as threatening behavior or abuse by adults who are intimate partners or family members, is a key public health and clinical priority. The prevalence of DVA in the United Kingdom and worldwide is high, and its impact on physical and mental health is detrimental and persistent. There is currently little support within healthcare settings for women experiencing DVA.

A pilot randomised controlled trial of cognitive behavioural therapy for antenatal depression.

Background: Few trials have evaluated the effectiveness of psychological treatment in improving depression by the end of pregnancy. This is the first pilot randomised controlled trial (RCT) of individual cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) looking at treating depression by the end of pregnancy. Our aim was to assess the feasibility of delivering a CBT intervention modified for antenatal depression during pregnancy.

Domestic violence: knowledge, attitudes, and clinical practice of selected UK primary healthcare clinicians.

Background: Domestic violence affects one in four women and has significant health consequences. Women experiencing abuse identify doctors and other health professionals as potential sources of support. Primary care clinicians agree that domestic violence is a healthcare issue but have been reluctant to ask women if they are experiencing abuse.

The effectiveness of exercise as a treatment for postnatal depression: study protocol.

Background: Postnatal depression can have a substantial impact on the woman, the child and family as a whole. Thus, there is a need to examine different ways of helping women experiencing postnatal depression; encouraging them to exercise may be one way. A meta analysis found some support for exercise as an adjunctive treatment for postnatal depression but the methodological inadequacy of the few small studies included means that it is uncertain whether exercise reduces symptoms of postnatal depression.

Developing a model of decision-making about complementary therapy use for patients with cancer: a qualitative study.

Objective: To improve our understanding of patient participation in health care consultations and decision-making by exploring a consultation that lies at the interface between mainstream care and complementary therapies.

Methods: Thirty-four holistic consultations were observed at centres offering complementary therapies for cancer, followed by interviews with patients and focus groups with professionals.

Results: A model of decision-making about complementary therapy use emerged from the data: 'Advice: Assessor led decision', 'Confirmation: Joint decision', 'Access: Patient-led decision' and 'Informed: Patient-led decision'.

Getting out and about in older adults: the nature of daily trips and their association with objectively assessed physical activity.

Background: A key public health objective is increasing health-enhancing physical activity (PA) for older adults (OAs). Daily trip frequency is independently associated with objectively assessed PA volumes (OAs). Little is known about correlates and these trips' transport mode, and how these elements relate to PA.