EMBRACE: An EM-based bias reduction approach through Copas-model estimation for quantifying the evidence of selective publishing in network meta-analysis.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses synthesize results from well-conducted studies to optimize healthcare decision-making. Network meta-analysis (NMA) is particularly useful for improving precision, drawing new comparisons, and ranking multiple interventions. However, recommendations can be misled if published results are a selective sample of what has been collected by trialists, particularly when publication status is related to the significance of the findings.

A Feasibility Study of Behavioral Activation for Major Depressive Disorder in a Community Mental Health Setting.

Behavioral activation (BA) is a well-supported treatment approach, but little research has been conducted on the effectiveness of this treatment within publicly funded community mental health settings. We examined the feasibility of conducting a randomized trial examining the effectiveness of nine sessions of BA as a treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) in a community mental health clinic (CMHC) setting. Following adaptation of a BA manual and training of BA therapists, 80 patients seeking treatment at a CMHC were randomized, with a 3:1 randomization rate of BA to nine sessions of treatment as usual (TAU).

Trust and respect in the patient-clinician relationship: preliminary development of a new scale.

Background: Trust and respect may be an important component of client-provider relationships. This study aimed to develop and report preliminary psychometric analyses of a new brief measure to evaluate a patient's level of trust and respect for their clinician. The scale was designed to be applicable in multiple healthcare contexts, with a particular focus on mental healthcare.

The interventional magnetic resonance imaging suite: Experience in the design, development, and implementation in a pre-existing radiology space and review of concepts.

Background: Intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging (ioMRI) has led to significant advancements in neurosurgery with improved accuracy, assessment of the extent of resection, less invasive surgical alternatives, and real-time confirmation of targeting as well delivery of therapies. The costs associated with developing ioMRI units in the surgical suite have been obstacles to the expansion of their use. More recently, the development of hybrid interventional MRI (iMRI) units has become a viable alternative.

Predictors of treatment attendance in cognitive and dynamic therapies for major depressive disorder delivered in a community mental health setting.

Objective: Our goal was to evaluate treatment attendance patterns, including both treatment completion and premature termination from treatment, for 2 evidence-based psychotherapies for major depressive disorder (MDD) delivered in a community mental health setting. We explored rates of premature termination across the course of treatment as well as the factors that predicted and moderated premature termination and treatment completion.

Method: This investigation included 237 patients with MDD who participated in a noninferiority trial comparing short-term dynamic psychotherapy (DT) to cognitive therapy (CT).

Symptoms of anhedonia, not depression, predict the outcome of treatment of cocaine dependence.

The purpose of this paper is to reanalyze data from two studies to determine if anhedonia specifically, rather than depression overall, predicts treatment outcome for patients with cocaine use disorders. Measures of baseline anhedonia symptoms were created using anhedonia items from the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) to re-examine National Institute on Drug Abuse Cocaine Collaborative Treatment study data (Crits-Christoph et al., 1999) and the contingency management group from the McKay et al.

The Measurement of Cognitive Schemas: Validation of the Psychological Distance Scaling Task in a Community Mental Health Sample.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of the Psychological Distance Scaling Task (PDST), a measure of cognitive schema organization, in a community mental health setting. We also compared validity among African Americans and Caucasians.

Method: In order to accommodate participants with low education levels, 26 out of 80 PDST word stimuli were replaced with similar words at a lower reading level.

Mechanisms of change in cognitive therapy for major depressive disorder in the community mental health setting.

Objective: This study examined the relation of change in theory-relevant cognitive variables to depressive symptom change over the course of cognitive therapy, as well as the specificity of change mechanisms to cognitive therapy as compared with dynamic therapy.

Method: There were 237 adult outpatients who were randomized to either cognitive (n = 119) or dynamic (n = 118) therapy for major depressive disorder in a community mental health setting. Assessments of compensatory skills (Ways of Responding Community Version and Self-Report Version), dysfunctional attitudes (Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale), and depressogenic schemas (Psychological Distance Scaling Task) were obtained at baseline and months 1, 2, and 5 following baseline.

A Naturalistic Evaluation of Extended-Release Naltrexone in Clinical Practice in Missouri.

The purpose of this study was to compare the naturalistic outcomes of individuals with alcohol or opioid use problems who were treated with extended-release naltrexone (XR-NTX) to those treated with psychosocial treatment only and also to those treated with other medication-assisted therapies in Missouri during 2010 to 2011. We analyzed intake and discharge data collected as part of SAMHSA's Treatment Episode Data Set assessments. Patients who received XR-NTX during their treatment episode were compared, for those reporting alcohol (but not opioids) as their problem (N=21,137), to those who received oral naltrexone, acamprosate, and psychosocial treatment only, and for those who reported opioids as a problem (N=8996), to those receiving oral naltrexone, buprenorphine/naloxone, and psychosocial treatment only.

Methods for Incorporating Patient Preferences for Treatments of Depression in Community Mental Health Settings.

We developed three methods (rating, ranking, and discrete choice) for identifying patients' preferred depression treatments based on their prioritization of specific treatment attributes (e.g., medication side effects, psychotherapy characteristics) at treatment intake.

Developing a prototype for short-term psychodynamic (supportive-expressive) therapy: An empirical study with the psychotherapy process Q-set.

Objective: A Psychotherapy Process Q-set (PQS) prototype characteristic of short-term psychodynamic therapy (STPP) does not yet exist.

Method: Experts in supportive-expressive (SE) therapy used the 100-Item PQS questionnaire to rate an ideal short-term SE therapy.

Results: Agreement between raters was high (Cronbach's alpha = 0.

The relation of baseline skills to psychotherapy outcome across diverse psychotherapies.

Objective: We explored whether patients with varied levels of baseline deficits in compensatory skills and self-understanding had different outcomes across cognitive and dynamic therapies.

Method: The assessment battery was administered at intake and termination (N = 97; 66% female, 81% Caucasian). We conducted regression analyses predicting symptom change from baseline levels of self-understanding and compensatory skills.

Predicting outcome of substance abuse treatment in a feedback study: Can recovery curves be improved upon?

Objective: The goal of the study was to evaluate whether enhanced normative feedback recovery curves are needed for treatment of substance use problems.

Method: Patient predictors of outcome were examined using data from four substance abuse treatment clinics.

Results: Baseline severity of symptoms/functioning, employment, and craving were found to be associated with rate of change in symptoms/functioning.

Combined medication and CBT for generalized anxiety disorder with African American participants: reliability and validity of assessments and preliminary outcomes.

Using data from a study of combined cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and venlafaxine XR in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), the current article examines the reliability and convergent validity of scales, and preliminary outcomes, for African American compared with European American patients. Internal consistency and short-term stability coefficients for African Americans (n=42) were adequate and similar or higher compared with those found for European Americans (n=164) for standard scales used in GAD treatment research. Correlations among outcome measures among African Americans were in general not significantly different for African Americans compared with European Americans.

Psychotherapy credibility ratings: patient predictors of credibility and the relation of credibility to therapy outcome.

Objective: The current investigation examined the relation between credibility ratings for adult psychotherapies and a variety of patient factors as well as the relation between credibility ratings and subsequent symptom change.

Method: A pooled study database that included studies evaluating the efficacy of cognitive and psychodynamic therapies for a variety of disorders was used. For all studies, a three-item credibility scale was administered at session 2.

Helping nurses care for self, family, and patients through the nurses living fit intervention.

Background: More than half of United States nurses are estimated to be overweight or obese. Interventions are needed that help nurses live healthier lifestyles. With most registered nurses being female and with an average age of 45.

Measuring Outcome in the Treatment of Cocaine Dependence.

Background: Little in known about the extent to which outcome measures used in studies of the treatment of cocaine dependence are associated with longer-term use and with broader measures of clinical improvement. The current study examined reductions in use, and abstinence-oriented measures, in relation to functioning and longer-term clinical benefits in the treatment of cocaine dependence.

Methods: Overall drug use, cocaine use, and functioning in a number of addiction-related domains for 487 patients diagnosed with DSM-IV cocaine dependence and treated with one of four psychosocial interventions in the NIDA Cocaine Collaborative Treatment Study were assessed monthly during 6 months of treatment and at 9, 12, 15, and 18 month follow-up.

Supportive-expressive dynamic psychotherapy in the community mental health system: a pilot effectiveness trial for the treatment of depression.

The goal of the current article is to present the results of a randomized pilot investigation of a brief dynamic psychotherapy compared with treatment-as-usual (TAU) in the treatment of moderate-to-severe depression in the community mental health system. Forty patients seeking services for moderate-to-severe depression in the community mental health system were randomized to 12 weeks of psychotherapy, with either a community therapist trained in brief dynamic psychotherapy or a TAU therapist. Results indicated that blind judges could discriminate the dynamic sessions from the TAU sessions on adherence to dynamic interventions.

Do supervisors and independent judges agree on evaluations of therapist adherence and competence in the treatment of cocaine dependence?

The current study examined the agreement between supervisors' and independent judges' evaluations of therapist adherence and competence in three treatments of cocaine dependence: supportive expressive therapy (SE), cognitive therapy CT), and individual drug counseling (IDC). We used data from The National Institute on Drug Abuse Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study (n = 295). Trained and experienced supervisors and independent judges rated treatment fidelity.

How many treatment sessions and patients are needed to create a stable score of adherence and competence in the treatment of cocaine dependence?

The study utilized a generalizability theory analysis of adherence and competence ratings to evaluate the number of sessions and patients needed to yield dependable scores at the patient and therapist levels. Independent judges' ratings of supportive expressive therapy (n = 94), cognitive therapy (n = 103), and individual drug counseling (n = 98) were obtained on tapes of sessions from the NIDA Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study. Generalizability coefficients revealed that, for all three treatments, ratings made on approximately five to 10 sessions per patient are needed to achieve sufficient dependability at the patient level.

Combined medication and cognitive therapy for generalized anxiety disorder.

The current study assessed efficacy of combined cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and venlafaxine XR compared to venlafaxine XR alone in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) within settings where medication is typically offered as the treatment for this disorder. Patients with DSM-IV-diagnosed GAD who were recently enrolled in a long-term venlafaxine XR study were randomly offered (n=77), or not offered (n=40), the option of adding 12 sessions of CBT. Of those offered CBT, 33% (n=26) accepted and attended at least one treatment session.

Gender, race, and group behavior in group drug treatment.

Background: Group drug counseling is the primary treatment modality used to treat drug dependence in community settings in the United States. Findings from the social psychology literature suggest that gender may influence how individuals participate in groups, and that race may moderate the effects of gender on group behavior. This study examined gender, race, and their interaction as predictors of alliance, participation, self-disclosure, and receipt of advice and feedback in drug counseling groups, and explored how gender and racial differences in drug counseling group behavior related to outcome of cocaine dependence treatment.

The dependability of alliance assessments: the alliance-outcome correlation is larger than you might think.

Objective: To examine the dependability of alliance scores at the patient and therapist level, to evaluate the potential causal direction of session-to-session changes in alliance and depressive symptoms, and to investigate the impact of aggregating the alliance over progressively more sessions on the size of the alliance-outcome relationship.

Method: We used data from a study (N = 45 patients; N = 9 therapists) of psychotherapy for major depressive disorder in which the alliance was measured at every treatment session to calculate generalizability coefficients and to predict change in depressive symptoms from alliance scores. Two replication samples were also used.

A generalizability theory analysis of group process ratings in the treatment of cocaine dependence.

Videotaped group drug counseling sessions were rated for alliance, self-disclosure, positive and negative feedback, group cohesion, and degree of participation of each group member. Interrater reliability was good to excellent for most measures. However, generalizability coefficients based on statistical models that included terms for patient, counselor, session, group, and rater revealed that some measures had inadequate dependability at the patient level if only two raters and two sessions were used to create patient-level scores.

Developing research and recruitment while fostering stakeholder engagement in a National Institutes of Mental Health-funded Interventions and Practice Research Infrastructure Programs grant for depression.

Background: In the context of a National Institutes of Mental Health-funded Interventions and Practice Research Infrastructure Programs (IP-RISP) grant for the treatment of depression, a partnership was developed between a community mental health organization and a team of researchers.

Objectives: This paper describes the collaborative process, key challenges, and strategies employed to meet the goals of the first phase of the grant, which included development of a working and sustainable partnership and building capacity for recruitment and research.

Methods: This paper was developed through the use of qualitative interviews and discussion with a variety of IP-RISP partners.