Implementation of a Telemental Health Training Program Across a Mental Health Department.

Telemental health (TMH) has increased substantially. However, health care systems have found it challenging to implement TMH ubiquitously. A quality improvement project guided by implementation science methodology was used to design and implement a TMH training program.

Telemental health training in the Veterans Administration Puget Sound Health Care System.

As a pioneer of training in the field of psychology, the Veterans Affairs (VA) HealthCare System serves as a leader in the training in and provision of Telemental Health (TMH) services in the United States. To meet goals toward continued expansion of these services, the VA TMH training program includes both web-based didactic courses and a skills competency test at a basic level with supervision and consultation in TMH for more advanced training and is available to staff psychologists and psychologist trainees. Despite these efforts, barriers for training in and implementation of TMH occur at the provider, system, and patient level.

Identifying and addressing mental health providers' perceived barriers to clinical video telehealth utilization.

Objective: Clinical video telehealth (CVT) is an innovative modality to provide care directly to Veterans' homes. Despite prior training initiatives, CVT remains underutilized. This project sought to better understand barriers to implementation and to compare responses of CVT utilizers versus nonutilizers.

The efficacy of Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy in VA primary care.

Focused Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (FACT) is a brief intervention based on traditional Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Although there is a growing body of research on the efficacy of ACT for a variety of populations and disorders, there is little research to date on the use of FACT in group settings. This project is 1 of the first of its kind, as it examines data on psychological flexibility, health and mental health status, and symptom reduction from a 4-week FACT group.

MPI profile classifications and associated clinical findings among litigating motor vehicle collision patients.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine differences in precollision, pericollision, and postcollision clinical variables across litigating motor vehicle collision (MVC) patients who were classified as Dysfunctional (DYS), Interpersonally Distressed (ID), or Adaptive Copers (ACs) based on Multidimensional Pain Inventory (MPI) profile classifications.

Materials And Methods: A sample of 240 MVC patients who sustained serious physical injuries and experienced MVC-related chronic pain completed the MPI and provided responses to a semistructured psycholegal interview designed to elicit injury-related and pain-related symptoms and treatments, determine the presence and impact of precollision experiences, and render psychiatric diagnoses and ratings of psychological disability.

Results: A significant multivariate effect of MPI profile group on postcollision variables was revealed, with the DYS and ID groups reporting more pain sites than the AC group and the DYS group receiving more recommendations for treatment than the AC group.

A unifying hypothesis of schizophrenia: abnormal immune system development may help explain roles of prenatal hazards, post-pubertal onset, stress, genes, climate, infections, and brain dysfunction.

We propose a unifying hypothesis of schizophrenia to help reconcile findings from many different disciplines. This hypothesis proposes that schizophrenia often involves pre- or perinatal exposure to adverse factors that produce a latent immune vulnerability. When this vulnerability is manifested, beginning around puberty with changes in immune function and involution of the thymus, individuals become more susceptible to infections and immune dysfunctions that contribute to schizophrenia.