Mental healthcare in paediatric epilepsy clinics: implementation by non-mental health professionals.

Objectives: Research has shown that children with epilepsy often experience mental health disorders but face barriers to effective care. One solution is to train healthcare professionals within paediatric epilepsy services to deliver psychological interventions. The aim of this paper was to examine aspects of treatment integrity of the 'Mental Health Interventions for Children with Epilepsy' (MICE) treatment, a modular cognitive behavioural therapy intervention for anxiety, depression and behavioural difficulties in childhood epilepsy.

Loneliness as an active ingredient in preventing or alleviating youth anxiety and depression: a critical interpretative synthesis incorporating principles from rapid realist reviews.

Loneliness is a relatively common problem in young people (14-24 years) and predicts the onset of depression and anxiety. Interventions to reduce loneliness thus have significant potential as active ingredients in strategies to prevent or alleviate anxiety and depression among young people. Previous reviews have focused on quantitative evidence and have not examined potential mechanisms that could be targets for intervention strategies.

The concept and definition of low intensity cognitive behaviour therapy.

There is confusion in the terminology used to describe different forms of cognitive behaviour therapy, in particular low intensity CBT. Such confusion has implications for research, clinical practice and service organisation. This thought-piece aims to describe the key components of low intensity CBT in comparison to brief high intensity standard CBT.

Therapist personality traits as predictors of psychological treatment outcomes.

To investigate if therapists' personality influences their patients' treatment outcomes.  = 4,052 patients were treated by 69 therapists, including 36 Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners (PWPs) and 33 Cognitive Behavioural Therapists (CBTs). Therapists completed the NEO-PI-R personality inventory, they reported years of clinical experience, and expert assessors rated their clinical competence and reflective abilities.

Judging clinical competence using structured observation tools: A cautionary tale.

Background: One method for appraising the competence with which psychological therapy is delivered is to use a structured assessment tool that rates audio or video recordings of therapist performance against a standard set of criteria.

Aims: The present study examines the inter-rater reliability of a well-established instrument (the Cognitive Therapy Scale - Revised) and a newly developed scale for assessing competence in CBT.

Method: Six experienced raters working independently and blind to each other's ratings rated 25 video recordings of therapy being undertaken by CBT therapists in training.