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.

Clinical and Ethical Considerations for Delivering Couple and Family Therapy via Telehealth.

Studies have generally supported telehealth as a feasible, effective, and safe alternative to in-office visits. Telehealth may also be of particular benefit to couples/families interested in relational treatments, as it addresses some of the barriers that may be more prominent for families, such as childcare and scheduling difficulties. Therapists interested in expanding their practice to include telehealth should understand ethical and practical considerations of this modality.

Relationship satisfaction, PTSD symptom severity, and mental healthcare utilization among OEF/OIF veterans.

Despite the availability of evidence-based PTSD treatments at most facilities within the VA Healthcare System, most Iraq and Afghanistan veterans returning from deployments with posttraumatic stress symptoms do not receive an adequate dose of mental health treatment, prompting the need to identify potential barriers to or facilitators of mental health care utilization. Previous research demonstrated self-reported mental health care utilization in the prior year varies as a function of PTSD symptom severity, and the interaction of PTSD symptom severity and romantic relationship satisfaction (Meis et al., 2010).

The relationships of posttraumatic stress disorder and depression symptoms with health-related quality of life and the role of social support among Veterans.

Purpose: The presence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression symptoms is associated with poor quality of life. Social support buffers against developing symptoms of PTSD and depression and is associated with greater quality of life. We examined the relationships between PTSD and depression symptom severity with physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and whether social support moderated these relationships.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptom Severity and Relationship Functioning Among Partnered Heterosexual and Lesbian Women Veterans.

Purpose: Few studies have examined associations of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and relationship satisfaction among women Veterans, and no research has explored these factors in lesbian women Veterans, a large subgroup that may have unique concerns. This study examined the link between PTSD and relationship satisfaction in partnered heterosexual and lesbian women Veterans and evaluated potential moderation by sexual orientation, partner support, and conflict.

Methods: Women Veterans (heterosexual n = 260; lesbian n = 128) were recruited nationally to complete a cross-sectional online survey.

Marital quality and health: a meta-analytic review.

This meta-analysis reviewed 126 published empirical articles over the past 50 years describing associations between marital relationship quality and physical health in more than 72,000 individuals. Health outcomes included clinical endpoints (objective assessments of function, disease severity, and mortality; subjective health assessments) and surrogate endpoints (biological markers that substitute for clinical endpoints, such as blood pressure). Biological mediators included cardiovascular reactivity and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity.

Common principles of couple therapy.

The similarity in efficacy of evidence-based couple therapies suggests that it may be useful to identify those treatment principles they hold in common. Expanding on the previous description of a unified protocol for couple therapy (Christensen, 2010), this article outlines five common principles: (a) altering the couple's view of the presenting problem to be more objective, contextualized, and dyadic; (b) decreasing emotion-driven, dysfunctional behavior; (c) eliciting emotion-based, avoided, private behavior; (d) increasing constructive communication patterns; and (e) emphasizing strengths and reinforcing gains. For each of these five elements of the unified protocol, the paper addresses how and to what extent the most common forms of evidence-based couple therapy carry out this principle.

Antecedents and consequences of demand/withdraw.

The authors examined the immediate antecedents and consequences of the demand/withdraw interaction pattern within naturally occurring conflicts. Both partners in 75 couples, including gay, lesbian, and straight couples, were interviewed individually regarding 2 recent conflicts, 1 chosen by each partner, and completed postinterview questionnaires. Interviews were coded for antecedents (e.