A Self-Help Manual for Psychological Distress and Quality of Life During a Haemopoietic Stem-Cell Transplant: An Effectiveness and Acceptability Pilot.

Haemopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) can be a highly distressing procedure that negatively impacts quality of life (QoL). Self-help interventions can help improve psychopathology and wellbeing in patients with physical illness, but have rarely been trialled with HSCT recipients. This study aimed to pilot the utility of a self-help manual intervention during the acute phase of HSCT.

Inpatient views and experiences before and after implementing a totally smoke-free policy in the acute psychiatry hospital setting.

In the present study, we examined the views and experiences of patients admitted to an acute psychiatry unit before and after the implementation of a totally smoke-free policy. Forty-six inpatients completed a questionnaire assessing their views before the smoking ban. Another 52 inpatients completed a questionnaire assessing their views and experiences after the smoking ban.

Three Years After Black Saturday: Long-Term Psychosocial Adjustment of Burns Patients as a Result of a Major Bushfire.

Despite increasing evidence that burn injuries can result in multiple psychological sequelae, little is known about the long-term psychosocial adjustment to burns sustained in a major bushfire. The aim of the present study was to assess long-term psychological distress and health-related quality of life in Australian burns patients as a result of the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires. Eight male and five female burns patients with a mean age of 53.

Routine screening for psychological distress on an Australian inpatient haematology and oncology ward: impact on use of psychosocial services.

Objective: To describe the outcomes and clinical experience of a 12-week pilot study of routine distress screening of newly admitted patients to an acute haematology and oncology ward.

Design, Patients And Setting: Bedside measurement of psychological distress, and collection of demographic and clinical data for 115 newly admitted patients in an acute haematology and oncology ward of The Alfred hospital in Melbourne between 5 June and 25 August 2006.

Main Outcome Measures: Psychosocial distress as measured by the Distress Thermometer and Problem Checklist, and 18-item Brief Symptom Inventory; rate of referral to psychology and social work services in the 12 weeks before and 12 weeks during the pilot study; ward staff feedback on the benefits and challenges associated with routine distress screening.