Evaluating changes in functioning and psychological distress in visitors of the @ease youth mental health walk-in centres.

Background: Highly accessible youth initiatives worldwide aim to prevent worsening of mental health problems, but research into outcomes over time is scarce.

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate outcomes and support use in 12- to 15-year-old visitors of the @ease mental health walk-in centres, a Dutch initiative offering free counselling by trained and supervised peers.

Method: Data of 754 visitors, collected 2018-2022, included psychological distress (Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation 10 (CORE-10)), social and occupational functioning (Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale (SOFAS)), school absenteeism and support use, analysed with change indicators (first to last visit), and mixed models (first three visits).

@ease peer-to-peer youth walk-in centres in The Netherlands: A protocol for evaluating longitudinal outcomes, follow-up results and cost-of-illness.

Aim: Innovative youth mental health services around the globe vigorously work on increasing highly needed mental health care accessibility but their service users and care effectiveness have rarely been studied. The Dutch youth walk-in centres of @ease opened in 2018, with currently 11 locations at which free anonymous peer-to-peer counselling is offered to young people aged 12-25. The aim of this protocol is to outline the to-be-conducted research at @ease.

Who is @ease? Visitors' characteristics and working method of professionally supported peer-to-peer youth walk-in centres, anonymous and free of charge.

Aim: Although mental disorders often emerge early in life, only a minority of young people receive timely and appropriate mental health care. A worldwide youth mental health movement aims to prevent development and persistence of psychiatric disorders. As part of this movement, the first four @ease centres were opened in the Netherlands.

Home alone: Social functioning as a transdiagnostic marker of mental health in youth, exploring retrospective and daily life measurements.

Purpose: Early detection and intervention of mental health problems in youth are topical given that mental disorders often start early in life. Young people with emerging mental disorders however, often present with non-specific, fluctuating symptoms. Recent reports indicate a decline in social functioning (SF) as an early sign of specific emerging mental disorders such as depression or anxiety, making SF a favorable transdiagnostic approach for earlier detection and intervention.

The efficacy of a working memory training in substance use patients: A randomized double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial.

Introduction: Substance use disorder patients show impairments in working memory (WM) functioning. Previous findings indicate that a WM training results in improvements of working memory capacity (WMC) and in decreased clinical symptoms in a range of mental disorders, including alcohol use disorder.

Method: The aim of the current study is to investigate the efficacy of a 24-session WM training in addition to treatment as usual on craving, WMC, substance use, impulsivity, attention bias, and psychopathology using a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial.

Detecting functional decline from normal aging to dementia: Development and validation of a short version of the Amsterdam IADL Questionnaire.

Introduction: Detecting functional decline from normal aging to dementia is relevant for diagnostic and prognostic purposes. Therefore, the Amsterdam IADL Questionnaire (A-IADL-Q) was developed: a 70-item proxy-based tool with good psychometric properties. We aimed to design a short version while preserving its psychometric quality.