Implementing peer support into practice in mental health services: a qualitative comparative case study.

Background: Peer workers are people with personal experience of mental distress, employed within mental health services to support others with similar experiences. Research has identified a range of factors that might facilitate or hinder the introduction of new peer worker roles into mental health services. While there is mixed evidence for the effectiveness of peer worker delivered interventions, there are no studies exploring how implementation might be associated with effect.

The effectiveness of sexual assault referral centres with regard to mental health and substance use: a national mixed-methods study - the MiMoS Study.

Background: Sexual assault referral centres have been established to provide an integrated service that includes forensic examination, health interventions and emotional support. However, it is unclear how the mental health and substance use needs are being addressed.

Aim: To identify what works for whom under what circumstances for people with mental health or substance use issues who attend sexual assault referral centres.

Cognitive change before sudden gains in cognitive behavioural therapy for panic disorder.

Background: Sudden gains occur in a range of disorders and treatments and are of clinical and theoretical significance if they can shed light on therapeutic change processes. This study investigated the relationship between sudden gains in panic symptoms and preceding cognitive change during cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) for panic disorder.

Method: Participants with panic disorder completed in session measures of panic symptoms and catastrophic cognitions.

Use of urgent, emergency and acute care by mental health service users: A record-level cohort study.

Background: People with serious mental illness experience worse physical health and greater mortality than the general population. Crude rates of A&E attendance and acute hospital admission are higher in people with serious mental illness than other hospital users. We aimed to further these findings by undertaking a standardised comparison of urgent and emergency care pathway use among users of mental health services and the general population.

Predictors of engagement with peer support: analysis of data from a randomised controlled trial of one-to-one peer support for discharge from inpatient psychiatric care.

Background: A range of evidence for the effectiveness of one-to-one peer support in mental health services is emerging. Levels of engagement with peer support vary with limited studies showing few individual participant characteristics predicting engagement. Implementation factors that might predict engagement have not been considered.

Using photovoice to understand and improve healthy lifestyles of people diagnosed with serious mental illness.

Unlabelled: WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: People diagnosed with serious mental illness (SMI): Live 10 to 20 years less than the general population, and this can be related to lifestyle factors such as poor diet and low levels of physical activity. Have a good understanding of what healthy lifestyle comprises of, but face barriers and challenges related to their mental health, treatment, and life situation. There is limited participatory research that considers the specific beliefs of people diagnosed with SMI about what "being healthy" means to them.

The impact of working as a peer worker in mental health services: a longitudinal mixed methods study.

Background: Peer workers are increasingly employed in mental health services to use their own experiences of mental distress in supporting others with similar experiences. While evidence is emerging of the benefits of peer support for people using services, the impact on peer workers is less clear. There is a lack of research that takes a longitudinal approach to exploring impact on both employment outcomes for peer workers, and their experiences of working in the peer worker role.

Peer support for discharge from inpatient mental health care versus care as usual in England (ENRICH): a parallel, two-group, individually randomised controlled trial.

Background: High numbers of patients discharged from psychiatric hospital care are readmitted within a year. Peer support for discharge has been suggested as an approach to reducing readmission post-discharge. Implementation has been called for in policy, however, evidence of effectiveness from large rigorous trials is missing.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Those Supported in the Community with Long-Term Mental Health Problems: A Qualitative Analysis of Power, Threat, Meaning and Survival.

Research suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on those already living with mental health problems, though there is also evidence of resilience. However, to date there has been limited in-depth qualitative investigation. We interviewed 15 people living with long-term mental health problems who, before the pandemic, were being supported by third sector organisations, to explore how they experienced lockdowns and accessing services remotely.

The mental health of university students during the COVID-19 pandemic: An online survey in the UK.

Higher education students' mental health has been a growing concern in recent years even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The stresses and restrictions associated with the pandemic have put university students at greater risk of developing mental health issues, which may significantly impair their academic success, social interactions and their future career and personal opportunities. This paper aimed to understand the mental health status of University students at an early stage in the pandemic and to investigate factors associated with higher levels of distress.

Using mixed methods to explore diabetes care in a medium-secure setting in England: A case study.

Background And Aims: Diabetes is highly prevalent among individuals with serious mental illness. Managing diabetes in forensic mental health settings presents unique challenges which are under-reported and poorly understood. This study aimed to explore diabetes care in a medium-secure setting and identify key areas for improvement.

Development of a peer support intervention to improve the experience and outcomes of discharge from inpatient mental health care: the role of experiential knowledge in a coproduced approach.

Objectives: Peer support is rapidly being introduced into mental health services internationally, yet peer support interventions are often poorly described, limiting the usefulness of research in informing policy and practice. This paper reports the development of a peer support intervention that aims to improve outcomes of discharge from inpatient to community mental health care. People with experiential knowledge of using mental health services-peer workers and service user researchers-were involved in all stages of developing the intervention: generating intervention components; producing the intervention handbook; piloting the intervention.

Using implementation intentions to prevent relapse after remission from psychological treatment for depression: The SMArT intervention.

Objective: To provide evidence of the effectiveness of a brief relapse prevention intervention using implementation intentions (Self-Management after Therapy, SMArT), following remission from depression and to identify effective relapse prevention strategies.

Method: The SMArT intervention was provided to 107 patients who were recovered after psychological therapy for depression. Relapse events were calculated as reliable and clinically significant increases in PHQ-scores.

Cost-effectiveness of feedback-informed psychological treatment: Evidence from the IAPT-FIT trial.

Background: Feedback-informed treatment (FIT) involves using computerized routine outcome monitoring technology to alert therapists to cases that are not responding well to psychotherapy, prompting them to identify and resolve obstacles to improvement. In this study, we present the first health economic evaluation of FIT, compared to usual care, to enable decision makers to judge whether this approach represents a good investment for health systems.

Methods: This randomised controlled trial included 2233 patients clustered within 77 therapists who were randomly assigned to a FIT group (n = 1176) or a usual care control group (n = 1057).

Self-management support activities in primary care: A qualitative study to compare provision across common health problems.

Objective: To explore the views of primary care teams about the provision of self-management support to patients with common health problems.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with twenty-one members of the primary care team from thirteen general practices. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, and analysed using the 'Framework' approach.

The identification and treatment of mental health and substance misuse problems in sexual assault services: A systematic review.

Background: Specialist sexual assault services, which collect forensic evidence and offer holistic healthcare to people following sexual assault, have been established internationally. In England, these services are called sexual assault referral centres (SARCs). Mental health and substance misuse problems are common among SARC attendees, but little is known about how SARCs should address these needs.

Co-producing Randomized Controlled Trials: How Do We Work Together?

In the light of the declaration "Nothing about us without us" (Charlton, 2000), interest in co-production, and coproduced research is expanding. Good work has been done establishing principles for co-production (Hickey et al., 2018) and for good quality involvement (Involve, 2013; 4Pi, 2015) and describing how this works in practice in mental health research (Gillard et al.

The influence of socio-demographic similarity and difference on adequate attendance of group psychoeducational cognitive behavioural therapy.

The study aimed to investigate the impact of socio-demographic similarity on the probability of attending an adequate dose of a psychoeducational group intervention (≥4 of 6 sessions). The sample comprised 2071 patients (63% female, 93% White, 15% unemployed, mean age 43) who received the Stress Control intervention in the UK's national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme. Similarity indices were constructed to measure each patient's similarity to the rest of their group on four characteristics: age, gender, ethnicity, and neighbourhood deprivation (Index of Multiple Deprivation; IMD).

Feedback-informed treatment versus usual psychological treatment for depression and anxiety: a multisite, open-label, cluster randomised controlled trial.

Background: Previous research suggests that the use of outcome feedback technology can enable psychological therapists to identify and resolve obstacles to clinical improvement. We aimed to assess the effectiveness of an outcome feedback quality assurance system applied in stepped care psychological services.

Methods: This multisite, open-label, cluster randomised controlled trial was done at eight National Health Service (NHS) Trusts in England, involving therapists who were qualified to deliver evidence-based low-intensity or high-intensity psychological interventions.

Using Implementation Intentions to Prevent Relapse after Psychological Treatment for Depression - the SMArT Intervention.

Background: It is recognized that a significant proportion of people with depression are prone to relapse, even after successful treatment, and that self-management interventions should be developed and provided. There is evidence that implementation intentions (IMPS) can be successfully applied to health-related behaviours but their application to self-management of mental health problems has been limited.

Aims: This paper describes the design and initial evaluation of a Self-Management After Therapy (SMArT) intervention, which incorporated IMPS and followed psychological therapy for depression.