The acceptability of an online intervention using positive psychology for depression: A qualitative study.

Background: Positive psychology interventions may usefully treat depression and can be delivered online to reduce the treatment gap. However, little is known about how acceptable patients find this approach. To address this, the present study interviewed recent users of a positive psychology self-help website.

Attrition in trials evaluating complex interventions for schizophrenia: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

Essential criteria for the methodological quality and validity of randomized controlled trials are the drop-out rates from both the experimental intervention and the study as a whole. This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed these drop-out rates in non-pharmacological schizophrenia trials. A systematic literature search was used to identify relevant trials with ≥100 sample size and to extract the drop-out data.

Meaningful activities for improving the wellbeing of people with dementia: beyond mere pleasure to meeting fundamental psychological needs.

Aims: Dementia is being increasingly recognised as a major public health issue for our ageing populations. A critical aspect of supporting people with dementia is facilitating their participation in meaningful activities. However, research to date has not drawn on theories of ageing from developmental psychology that would help undergird the importance of such meaningful activity.

Decisions about the use of psychotropic medication during pregnancy: a qualitative study.

Objective: To understand the perspectives of women with severe mental illness concerning the use of psychotropic medicines while pregnant.

Design: Interviews conducted by female peer researchers with personal experience of making or considering decisions about using psychotropic medicines in pregnancy, supported by professional researchers.

Participants: 12 women who had had a baby in the past 5 years and had taken antipsychotics or mood-stabilisers for severe mental illness within the 12-month period immediately prior to that pregnancy.

The role of family carers in the use of personal budgets by people with mental health problems.

Personal budgets aim to increase choice and independence for people with social care needs but they remain underused by people with mental health problems compared to other disability groups. The use of personal budgets may impact on families in a variety of ways, both positive and negative. This paper draws on interviews, undertaken in 2012-2013 with 18 family carers and 12 mental health service users, that explored experiences of family involvement in accessing and managing personal budgets for a person with mental health-related social care needs.

Outcomes from personal budgets in mental health: service users' experiences in three English local authorities.

Background: In England, personal budgets are offered to eligible people with severe mental health problems to enable them to purchase what is helpful for their quality of life or recovery. However, in-depth insight into people's own perceptions of the outcomes is lacking.

Aims: To investigate people's own reporting of outcomes from using personal budgets in relation to social care needs arising from severe mental health problems.

Implementing personalisation in integrated mental health teams in England.

This article explores how role boundaries and professional priorities in integrated mental health teams have impacted on the implementation of personalised approaches to social care support. We focus on the use of personal budgets to meet mental health-related social care needs as a key mechanism for personalised care. Drawing on 28 qualitative interviews with mental health practitioners from three local authorities in England undertaken in 2013, we report nurses', social workers', and occupational therapists' attitudes towards, and engagement with, personal budgets.

Dementia diagnosis and post-diagnostic support in Scottish rural communities: experiences of people with dementia and their families.

This paper explores the reported difficulties and satisfactions with diagnostic processes and post-diagnostic support offered to people with dementia and their families living in the largest remote and rural region in Scotland. A consultation with 18 participants, six people with dementia and 12 family members, was held using semi-structured interviews between September and November 2010. Three points in the diagnostic process were explored: events and experiences pre-diagnosis; the experience of the diagnostic process; and post-diagnostic support.

Implementing personalisation for people with mental health problems: a comparative case study of four local authorities in England.

Background: Enhancing choice and control for people using services is a mental health and social-care service priority in England. Personalisation is a new policy and practice for delivery of social-care services where eligible adults are allocated a personal budget to spend to meet their agreed support needs.

Aims: To describe approaches to introducing personal budgets to people with severe and enduring mental health needs, and to identify facilitators or barriers encountered.

A review of diagnostic process and postdiagnostic support for people with dementia in rural areas.

Purpose: Early diagnosis of dementia allows the affected individuals to make plans, and helps services to identify and act on need. Previous work has suggested that obtaining an early diagnosis in rural areas can be difficult. This paper discusses diagnosis and postdiagnostic support for people with dementia, with a focus on service delivery in rural areas.

Evaluation of a dementia training workshop for health and social care staff in rural Scotland.

This short project report presents an evaluation of a training workshop for health and social-care staff working in one of the most rural areas in Scotland. The objective was to explore the learning needs and outcomes of training participants delivering services to people with dementia in a rural area. The training workshop encouraged health and social-care staff to discuss key challenges they experienced in their dementia care practice, as well as providing information on dementia care, services and rural dementia research.