Pharmacy student attitudes to mental illness and the provision of mental health care: a repeated cross-sectional survey.

Background: Attitudes to mental illness are an important factor in the willingness of professionals to engage in mental health care.

Aim: The aim of this study was to understand attitudes of undergraduate pharmacy students in Ireland to severe mental illness and the provision of medicines optimisation services as well as the variation in these attitudes throughout the undergraduate course.

Method: A survey instrument was compiled using existing published research and validated questionnaires.

Cardiometabolic risk in people under 40 years with severe mental illness: reading between the guidelines.

People with severe mental illness (SMI) have a shorter life expectancy than the rest of the population. Multimorbidity and poorer physical health contribute to this health inequality. Cardiometabolic multimorbidity confers a significant mortality risk in this population.

The development and validation of a medicines optimisation tool to protect the physical health of people with severe mental illness (OPTIMISE).

Background: The life expectancy of people with severe mental illness (SMI) is shorter than those without SMI, with multimorbidity and poorer physical health contributing to health inequality. Screening tools could potentially assist the optimisation of medicines to protect the physical health of people with SMI. The aim of our research was to design and validate a medicines optimisation tool (OPTIMISE) to help clinicians to optimise physical health in people with SMI.

A systematic scoping review of primary health care service outreach for homeless populations.

Background: Homeless populations (HPs) have difficulties obtaining necessary medical care, and primary health care service outreach (PHSO) might be useful to bridge this gap.

Objective: Using the Centre for Evidence-Based Management Critically Appraised Topics framework, to provide systematic evidence of the usefulness of PHSO interventions for HPs.

Methods: A systematic search was conducted in 4 electronic databases: PubMed, Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane (publication dates between January 1980 and November 2020).

Metformin in the management of antipsychotic-induced weight gain in adults with psychosis: development of the first evidence-based guideline using GRADE methodology.

Background: Adjunctive metformin is the most well-studied intervention in the pharmacological management of antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG). Although a relatively unaddressed area, among guidelines recommending consideration of metformin, prescribing information that would facilitate its applied use by clinicians, for example, provision of a dose titration schedule is absent. Moreover, recommendations differ regarding metformin's place in the hierarchy of management options.

Prescribing pattern of antipsychotic medication for first-episode psychosis: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: Guidelines for antipsychotic use in first-episode psychosis (FEP) recommend that medication be chosen initially on the basis of side effect profile with doses at the lower end of the range. Our objective was to describe the pattern of antipsychotic use in FEP over a period of 21 years in the context of changing clinical guidelines and the development of specialist early intervention in psychosis (EIP) services.

Setting: A community-based mental health service in South County Dublin (population 187 000) and a large private hospital.

Check the effects: systematic assessment of antipsychotic side-effects in an inpatient cohort.

Background: Antipsychotics are associated with a range of side-effects that can influence patients' subjective well-being negatively resulting in poor adherence. In order to limit the negative consequences of side-effects, they should be regularly systematically assessed. The aim of this study was to systematically assess antipsychotic side-effects in an inpatient cohort using validated rating scales.

Clozapine use - has practice changed?

Background: One-third of individuals with schizophrenia have treatment-resistant illness. Of these, up to 60% will respond to clozapine treatment.

Aims: This study retrospectively examined clozapine prescribing patterns against National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines as treatment-resistant illness emerged in a first-episode psychosis cohort.

Patients and Caregivers Helping to Shape the Undergraduate Pharmacy Mental Health Curriculum.

To develop a model system for involving patients and caregivers in curriculum development of mental health education in an undergraduate pharmacy program. Purposive recruitment was used to convene a focus group of nine people with experience in using mental health services from either the patient or caregiver perspective. Group members were asked about their experience with using pharmacy services and their suggestions for enhancement of the undergraduate curriculum.

Pharmacy Students' Reflections on an Experiential Learning Visit to a Psychiatric Hospital.

To create a brief, experiential educational intervention for undergraduate pharmacy students aimed at developing appropriate attitudes, knowledge, and skills for the delivery of recovery-focused pharmacy services to people with mental illness, and to elicit student perceptions of the value and impact of the intervention. A brief intervention was developed in which a cohort of 44 fourth-year pharmacy students attended a psychiatric teaching hospital in groups of 10 to12. The intervention was integrated into the therapeutics module, and was based on Fink's taxonomy of learning.

Pharmacological guidelines for schizophrenia: a systematic review and comparison of recommendations for the first episode.

Objectives: Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) support the translation of research evidence into clinical practice. Key health questions in CPGs ensure that recommendations will be applicable to the clinical context in which the guideline is used. The objectives of this study were to identify CPGs for the pharmacological treatment of first-episode schizophrenia; assess the quality of these guidelines using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE II) instrument; and compare recommendations in relation to the key health questions that are relevant to the pharmacological treatment of first-episode schizophrenia.

Glasgow Antipsychotic Side-effects Scale for Clozapine - Development and validation of a clozapine-specific side-effects scale.

Objective: The authors developed and validated a clozapine-specific side-effects scale capable of eliciting the subjectively unpleasant side-effects of clozapine.

Methods: Questions from the original Glasgow Antipsychotic Side-effects Scale (GASS) were compared to a list of the most commonly reported clozapine side-effects and those with a significant subjective burden were included in the GASS for Clozapine (GASS-C). The original authors of the GASS and a group of mental health professionals from the UK and Ireland were enlisted to comment on the questions in the GASS-C based on their clinical experience.

Daily weather variables and affective disorder admissions to psychiatric hospitals.

Numerous studies have reported that admission rates in patients with affective disorders are subject to seasonal variation. Notwithstanding, there has been limited evaluation of the degree to which changeable daily meteorological patterns influence affective disorder admission rates. A handful of small studies have alluded to a potential link between psychiatric admission rates and meteorological variables such as environmental temperature (heat waves in particular), wind direction and sunshine.

The culture of high-risk alcohol use among club and intramural athletes.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the drinking patterns of club and intramural college athletes and compare their alcohol consumption, perceived norms around the excessive use of alcohol, experience of negative consequences, and employment of protective strategies with those of campus varsity athletes.

Participants: A total of 442 undergraduate students attending a private, suburban institution in the Northeast participated in the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment-II Web survey in spring 2011. Thirty-five students identified themselves as varsity athletes, 76 identified as club sport athletes, and 196 students identified themselves as intramural athletes.

The effects of daily weather variables on psychosis admissions to psychiatric hospitals.

Several studies have noted seasonal variations in admission rates of patients with psychotic illnesses. However, the changeable daily meteorological patterns within seasons have never been examined in any great depth in the context of admission rates. A handful of small studies have posed interesting questions regarding a potential link between psychiatric admission rates and meteorological variables such as environmental temperature (especially heat waves) and sunshine.

Group cognitive behavioural therapy for first episode psychosis: who's referred, who attends and who completes it?

Aim: Most national guidelines recommend psychological therapy for people with first-episode psychosis (FEP) but interventions proven effective in randomized control trials (RCTs) conducted in research settings do not always translate effectively to real-world clinical environments. In a limited health system, it is important to understand the system and patient barriers to participation in effective treatment. We sought to determine what patient characteristics influenced clinicians' decision to refer or not to refer to group cognitive behavioural therapy for FEP and what characteristics were associated with those referred attending/not attending and adhering/not adhering to the programme.

First rank symptoms in first episode psychosis and their relationship to the duration of untreated illness.

Most studies of First Rank Symptoms (FRS) are based on cross-sectional inpatient samples of people with schizophrenia at various stages of illness. We sought to examine the prevalence of FRS in a representative sample of first episode psychosis patients and compare those with and without FRS clinically and in terms of duration of untreated illness. Information was gathered from 158 consecutive cases of first episode psychosis presenting in a defined geographical region through semi-structured interview tools.

Caregiver psychoeducation for first-episode psychosis.

Introduction: International best-practice guidelines for the management of first-episode psychosis have recommended the provision of psychoeducation for multifamily groups. While there is ample evidence of their efficacy in multiepisode psychosis, there is a paucity of evidence supporting this approach specifically for first-episode psychosis. We sought to determine whether a six-week caregiver psychoeducation programme geared specifically at first-episode psychosis improves caregiver knowledge and attitudes.

First episode psychosis and the trail to secondary care: help-seeking and health-system delays.

Background: People experience delays in receiving effective treatment for many illnesses including psychosis. These delays have adverse consequences in heart disease and cancer, and their causes have been the subject of much research but only in recent years have pathways to care in psychosis received such attention. We sought to establish if, when and where people seek help in the early phase of psychosis in a representative sample.

Are symptoms associated with increased levels of perceived stress in first-episode psychosis?

Several studies report on the presence of external stress and life events prior to the onset and exacerbation of psychotic illness. However, the relationship between the subjective appraisal of stress at first presentation with psychosis is less well understood. This paper reports on the relationship between the individual perception of stress and symptomatology in individuals with first-episode psychosis at presentation to community mental health services.

Early intervention service for psychosis: views from primary care.

Aim: Although General Practitioners (GPs) have a pivotal role in early detection and treatment of psychosis, there is sparse information on their views of early intervention (EI) services and how information related to EI should be delivered.

Method: Since inception, DETECT (Dublin East Treatment and Early Care Team), Ireland's pilot EI project, mailed information packs and provided information through the local GP continuing medical education (CME) network. After 1 year, we surveyed GPs within DETECT's catchment area for their views on the service being provided.

Integrating primary care and early intervention in psychosis services: a general practitioner perspective.

Aims: Earlier detection and treatment of psychosis is associated with improved health outcomes. While the role of specialist services to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment has been extensively described internationally, little data on their impact on general practice has been reported. A new specialist service for psychosis - the 'Dublin East Treatment and Early Care Team (DETECT)'- has recently been established.