Publications by authors named "Sally Merry"

Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an empirically supported treatment for childhood conduct problems, with increasing numbers of clinicians being trained in Aotearoa/New Zealand. However, ensuring sustained delivery of effective treatments by trained clinicians in routine care environments is notoriously challenging. The aims of this qualitative study were to (1) systematically examine and prioritise PCIT implementation barriers and facilitators, and (2) develop a well specified and theory-driven 're-implementation' intervention to support already-trained clinicians to resume or increase their implementation of PCIT.

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Depression and anxiety are common in adolescents, but most affected will not get any formal help. Digital mental health technologies (i.e.

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Introduction: A digital programme, MoodHwb, was codesigned with young people experiencing or at high risk of depression, parents/carers and professionals, to provide support for young people with their mood and well-being. A preliminary evaluation study provided support for the programme theory and found that MoodHwb was acceptable to use. This study aims to refine the programme based on user feedback, and to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the updated version and study methods.

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Background: Despite a number of clinicians having been trained in Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) in Aotearoa/New Zealand, few are regularly delivering the treatment, with barriers to use including a lack of suitable equipment and lack of professional support. This pragmatic, parallel-arm, randomised, controlled pilot trial includes PCIT-trained clinicians who are not delivering, or only rarely utilising, this effective treatment. The study aims to assess the feasibility, acceptability and cultural responsivity of study methods and intervention components and to collect variance data on the proposed future primary outcome variable, in preparation for a future, larger trial.

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Background: Up to 6 years after the 2011 Christchurch earthquakes, approximately one-third of parents in the Christchurch region reported difficulties managing the continuously high levels of distress their children were experiencing. In response, an app named Kākano was co-designed with parents to help them better support their children's mental health.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the acceptability, feasibility, and effectiveness of Kākano, a mobile parenting app to increase parental confidence in supporting children struggling with their mental health.

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Objective: SPARX is an online cognitive behavioural therapy self-help intervention for adolescent depression provided in serious game format. Since 2014, it has been freely available in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) due to funding from the NZ government. In 2020/21, feedback from sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) was used to refine and update SPARX.

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: Now more than ever, there is an obvious need to reduce the overall burden of disease and risk of premature mortality that are associated with mental health and substance use disorders among young people. However, the current state of research and evidence-based clinical care for high-risk substance use among youth is fragmented and scarce. The objective of the study is to establish consensus for the prevention, treatment, and management of high-risk substance use and overdose among youth (10 to 24 years old).

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Background: Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is a parent training intervention for childhood conduct problems, distinctive in its use of live clinician coaching of the parent-child dyad via a one-way mirror and discrete earpiece. However, despite a compelling evidence base, uptake of evidence-based parent training programmes such as PCIT by clinicians in routine care settings remains poor. This systematic review aimed to identify and synthesise implementation interventions that have sought to increase clinician adoption of PCIT in usual care settings.

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Background: Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) is an effective parent training approach for a commonly occurring and disabling condition, namely conduct problems in young children. Yet, despite ongoing efforts to train clinicians in PCIT, the intervention is not widely available in New Zealand and Australia.

Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional online survey of clinicians in New Zealand and Australia who had completed at least the 40-h initial PCIT training, to understand the barriers they encountered in their implementation efforts, and the extent to which attitudes toward time-out influenced implementation.

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Background: Approximately 10%-12% of New Zealand children and young people have long-term physical conditions (chronic illnesses) and are more likely to develop psychological problems, particularly anxiety and depression. Delayed treatment leads to worse health care and poorer long-term outcomes. Recently, eHealth interventions, especially those based on principles of cognitive behavioral therapy and biofeedback, have been shown to be moderately effective in reducing anxiety.

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Editorial: Are our kids getting a fair deal?

Child Adolesc Ment Health

September 2021

With the patchy but increasing roll-out of the COVID-19 vaccine, and as the world begins to emerge in a bumpy fashion from strict lock-downs, the frightening experience of overwhelmed hospitals and alarmingly high mortality rates from COVID-19, we are beginning to take stock of the huge toll from the pandemic. One of the oft-voiced concerns is the impact on mental health, particularly for vulnerable children and adolescents, but how much of a problem is there really? Are we facing a crisis?

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Editorial: Optimizing Depression Prevention: The Way Forward?

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

September 2021

Since the advent of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy in the 1960s and 1970s, the progress on "talking therapies" has been slow. An extensive review of prevention and treatment studies over the past 50 years has shown that, although the therapies are effective, for depression the effect size is moderate, even for treatment, and has not changed in 50 years, with some indication that efficacy may have decreased. The approaches used in treatment have also been the mainstay of depression prevention approaches, with evidence of a small-to-moderate reduction in depressive symptoms but with no convincing evidence of reduction in the incidence of depressive disorder in meta-analyses.

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Background: Inquiries into mental health related homicides may be held to identify failures in care and areas for improvement, accountability and to enhance public confidence. However, inquiries do not always achieve these aims.

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives of members of inquiry panels who conduct inquiries into mental health related homicides in order to identify elements that would constitute a good inquiry.

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Objectives: This aim of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of clinicians involved with inquiries into the mental health care of patients who were perpetrators of homicide in New Zealand.

Methods: Our purposive sample comprised ten clinicians working in New Zealand district health board mental health services. These clinicians were individually interviewed.

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We aimed to identify features of New Zealand government-commissioned inquiries into the provision of mental health services after homicides committed by service users. The analysis of five reports from 1992 to 2016 identified similarities across reports, which included documenting a process; responding to a set terms of reference; detailing a case chronology, risk assessment, team and system issues; making recommendations and giving opportunities to clinicians to respond to adverse comments. Differences included selecting key informants and acknowledging limitations of scope.

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Objective: SPARX is a computerized cognitive behavioral therapy self-help program for adolescent depression that is freely available in New Zealand. At registration, users identify themselves as either male, female, intersex, or transgender. We aimed to describe the mental health of adolescent intersex users.

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Adolescent depression is common, and its prevalence is thought to be increasing in many high income nations. Addressing adolescent depression has proven challenging using traditional face-to-face psychotherapies, with major barriers including workforce shortages internationally and reluctance to seek help among some adolescents. There is substantial evidence to support the use of digital tools to treat mental health problems, with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) now recommending such tools as a first-line treatment.

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Objective: SPARX is a form of computerized cognitive behavioural therapy in serious game format funded via the Ministry of Health to be freely available in New Zealand. At registration users identify themselves as male, female, transgender or intersex. We aimed to establish whether adolescent transgender users of SPARX, compared to adolescent male and female users, were more likely to have high mental health needs at baseline and were more likely to complete SPARX.

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Digital health interventions (DHIs) have frequently been highlighted as one way to respond to increasing levels of mental health problems in children and young people. Whilst many are developed to address existing mental health problems, there is also potential for DHIs to address prevention and early intervention. However, there are currently limitations in the design and reporting of the development, evaluation and implementation of preventive DHIs that can limit their adoption into real-world practice.

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The pandemic is creating unprecedented demand for mental health support for young people. While schools often facilitate mental health support for their students, the demands for online teaching and the uncertainty created by the pandemic make traditional delivery of support through schools challenging. Technology provides a potential way forward.

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