Examining the Impact of a Brief Compassion Focused Intervention on Everyday Experiences of Compassion in Autistic Adults Through Psychophysiology and Experience Sampling.

Autistic adults experience greater rates of anxiety and depression compared to the general population. Compassion-focused therapy interventions, aimed at promoting self-compassion capabilities, have shown efficacy in improving mental health outcomes in autistic and non-autistic samples suffering from self-criticism that contribute to difficulties in emotion regulation. We explored the experiences of autistic adults during a brief one-week online self-compassion exercise to evaluate it's feasibility and acceptability through self-report, experience sampling, and parasympathetic activity measured via HRV.

Hybrid Service Delivery for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations working with adults with learning disabilities and/or autism: a realist review protocol.

Background: Delivery of health and care services using a combination of remote and/or in-person channels and digital and/or traditional tools (Hybrid Service Delivery, HSD) is increasingly seen as a way of improving quality and affordability, improving access, personalisation and sustainability, and reducing inequalities. Across the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector (VCSE), using a combination of remote and/or in-person channels and digital and/or traditional tools (HSD) has enabled the essential provision of services for people who have learning disabilities and/or autistic (LDA). However, it is unclear how different tools and channels have been used, what worked well or not well, for whom, and in what circumstances.

Autism Spectrum Social Stories in Schools Trial 2 (ASSSIST-2): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of the Social Stories™ intervention to address the social and emotional health of autistic children in UK primary schools.

Background: Autistic children can experience mental health, social and emotional difficulties. Carol Gray's Social Stories™ are a highly personalised intervention that provide social information in a short individually tailored story.

Methods: A multi-site pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial to evaluate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of Social Stories™ alongside care as usual in autistic children aged 4-11 years.

Compassion focused imagery reduces fears of compassion irrespective of attachment.

The present study evaluated the efficacy of a brief compassion-focused imagery intervention for reducing fears of compassion. This study also examined whether individual differences in attachment would influence treatment effectiveness. We randomly assigned a nonclinical sample of 125 community-dwelling adults to a control group or an intervention group.

Daily effects of a brief compassion-focused intervention for self-compassion.

Interventions for increasing self-compassion are typically assessed through retrospective reports, which may not accurately capture everyday self-compassionate behaviour. Our study addresses this using experience sampling to evaluate a brief compassion-focused intervention's effects on needs for self-compassion, awareness of opportunities for self-compassion, self-compassionate behaviour and emotional responses to one's distress in daily life. Results indicated that the intervention was associated with less likelihood of reporting needs and opportunities for self-compassion but with no difference in self-compassionate actions or emotional experience.

Impact of Social Stories on social and emotional health of autism spectrum primary school children: the ASSSIST2 RCT with economic evaluation.

Background: Differences in the way autistic children experience the world can contribute to anxiety and stress. Carol Gray's Social Stories™ are a highly personalised intervention to support children by providing social information about specific situations in an individual story.

Objectives: This randomised controlled trial aimed to establish whether Social Stories are clinically effective and cost-effective in improving social responsiveness and social and emotional health in children on the autism spectrum in schools.

Attachment and propensity for reporting compassionate opportunities and behavior in everyday life.

Introduction: Researchers have identified links between anxious and avoidant attachments and difficulties with self-compassion, giving others compassion, and receiving compassion. However, while compassion requires both awareness of opportunities for compassion and compassionate action, little is known about attachment-related differences in reporting compassionate opportunities. Further, most research relies on retrospective-reports that may not accurately assess compassionate behaviors in everyday life.

Play brick therapy to aid the social skills of children and young people with autism spectrum disorder: the I-SOCIALISE cluster RCT.

Background: Social skills interventions are commonly recommended to help children and young people with autism spectrum disorder develop social skills, but some struggle to engage in these interventions. LEGO (LEGO System A/S, Billund, Denmark) based therapy, a group social skills intervention, aims to be more interesting and engaging.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of LEGO based therapy on the social and emotional skills of children and young people with autism spectrum disorder in school settings compared with usual support.

Why Do People Sometimes Wear an Anonymous Mask? Motivations for Seeking Anonymity Online.

Anonymous environments are more accessible than ever. As such, it is important to understand not only how anonymity can change human behavior but also why people are motivated to seek anonymity in online spaces. In four studies, we investigated differences in motivations for seeking anonymity online and their associations with related dispositional factors and online behavior.

I-SOCIALISE: Results from a cluster randomised controlled trial investigating the social competence and isolation of children with autism taking part in LEGO based therapy ('Play Brick Therapy') clubs in school environments.

Autism is characterised by keen interests and differences in social interactions and communication. Activities that help autistic children and young people with social skills are commonly used in UK schools. LEGO based therapy is a new activity that provides interesting and fun social opportunities for children and young people and involves building LEGO models together.

The clinical management of functional neurological disorder: A scoping review of the literature.

Objective: To date, there have been no reviews bringing together evidence on the clinical management of functional neurological disorder (FND) and patients', caregivers', and healthcare workers' experiences. This review provides an overview of the literature focused on the clinical management of FND.

Methods: Four databases were searched, and a consultation exercise was conducted to retrieve relevant records dated from September 2010 to September 2020.

Identifying the top research priorities in medically not yet explained symptoms (MNYES): a James Lind Alliance priority setting partnership.

Objectives: This study establishes research priorities for medically not yet explained symptoms (MNYES), also known as persistent physical symptoms or medically unexplained symptoms, from the perspective of patients, caregivers and clinicians, in a priority setting partnership (PSP) following the James Lind Alliance (JLA) approach. Research into such symptoms in general has been poorly funded over the years and so far has been primarily researcher-led with minimal input from patients, caregivers and clinicians; and sometimes has been controversial.

Design: JLA PSP method.

Cost-utility analysis of LEGO based therapy for school children and young people with autism spectrum disorder: results from a randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To assess the cost-effectiveness of LEGO-based therapy compared with usual support.

Design: Cost-utility analysis alongside randomised control trial.

Setting: Mainstream primary and secondary schools in the UK.

Assessment of cytokines, microRNA and patient related outcome measures in conversion disorder/functional neurological disorder (CD/FND): The CANDO clinical feasibility study.

Background: Conversion disorder/functional neurological disorder (CD/FND) occurs often in neurological settings and can lead to long-term distress, disability and demand on health care services. Systemic low-grade inflammation might play a role, however, the pathogenic mechanism is still unknown.

Aim: 1) To explore the feasibility to establish and assess a cohort of CD/FND with motor symptoms, involving persons with lived experience (PPI).

An old problem revisited: How sensitive is time-based prospective memory to age-related differences?

Prospective memory (PM) tasks that impose strong demands on strategic monitoring decline more in late adulthood relative to tasks dependent on more automatic cue detection processes. This finding has proven robust to numerous manipulations, with one exception: time-based PM. However, conventional time-based tasks may inadvertently present time-related yet still event-based cues.

Barriers to attending initial psychological therapy service appointments for common mental health problems: A mixed-methods systematic review.

Background: Non-attendance at initial appointments is a widespread problem which affects mental health services and patients.

Methods: This mixed methods systematic review identified and synthesised the available literature on factors, which could be modified either by patients or by services, that can influence early attrition to services offering psychological support for common mental health problems. Searches were conducted January 2017, updated Oct 2019, in MEDLINE, CINAHL Plus, EMBASE, Cochrane Library and PsycINFO.

Workplace Stress, Presenteeism, Absenteeism, and Resilience Amongst University Staff and Students in the COVID-19 Lockdown.

This study explored how the COVID-19 outbreak and arrangements such as remote working and furlough affect work or study stress levels and functioning in staff and students at the University of York, UK. An invitation to participate in an online survey was sent to all University of York staff and students in May-June 2020. We measured stress levels [VAS-scale, Perceived Stress Questionnaire (PSQ)], mental health [anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9)], physical health (PHQ-15, chronic medical conditions checklist), presenteeism, and absenteeism levels (iPCQ).

Autism Spectrum Social Stories In Schools Trial 2 (ASSSIST2): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial analysing clinical and cost-effectiveness of Social Stories™ in primary schools.

Background: Interventions designed to support children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC) can be time consuming, needing involvement of outside experts. Social Stories™ are a highly personalised intervention aiming to give children with ASC social information or describing an otherwise difficult situation or skill. This can be delivered daily by staff in education settings.

Investigating SOcial Competence and Isolation in children with Autism taking part in LEGO-based therapy clubs In School Environments (I-SOCIALISE): study protocol.

Introduction: Social skills training interventions for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) typically focus on a skills deficit model rather than building on existing skills or encouraging the child to seek their own solutions. LEGO-based therapy is a child-oriented intervention to help improve social interactional skills and reduce isolation. The therapy is designed for school-age children with ASD and uses group-based play in a school setting to encourage peer relationships and social learning.

Social Stories in mainstream schools for children with autism spectrum disorder: a feasibility randomised controlled trial.

Objectives: To assess the feasibility of recruitment, retention, outcome measures and intervention training/delivery among teachers, parents and children. To calculate a sample size estimation for full trial.

Design: A single-centre, unblinded, cluster feasibility randomised controlled trial examining Social Stories delivered within a school environment compared with an attentional control.

An evaluation of the impact of the key information summary on GPs and out-of-hours clinicians in NHS Scotland.

Background And Aims: Key information summary is one of the first national shared electronic patient records enabling GPs to share clinical information with unscheduled care providers, including out-of-hours. Implemented during 2013, over 90,000 patient records have been created. This evaluation identified the impact of key information summary on healthcare services.

Searching ClinicalTrials.gov and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform to inform systematic reviews: what are the optimal search approaches?

Background: Since 2005, International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) member journals have required that clinical trials be registered in publicly available trials registers before they are considered for publication.

Objectives: The research explores whether it is adequate, when searching to inform systematic reviews, to search for relevant clinical trials using only public trials registers and to identify the optimal search approaches in trials registers.

Methods: A search was conducted in ClinicalTrials.

Effectiveness of probiotics on the duration of illness in healthy children and adults who develop common acute respiratory infectious conditions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Recent systematic reviews have reported a positive, although modest, effect of probiotics in terms of preventing common cold symptoms. In this systematic review, the effect of probiotics, specifically Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium strains, on the duration of acute respiratory infections in otherwise healthy children and adults was evaluated. To identify relevant trials, eight databases, including MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (CDSR), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects (DARE), Health Technology Assessment (HTA), Science Citation Index (SCI) and OAISTER, were searched from inception to 20 July 2012.

Choosing and using methodological search filters: searchers' views.

Background: Search filters or hedges are search strategies developed to assist information specialists and librarians to retrieve different types of evidence from bibliographic databases. The objectives of this project were to learn about searchers' filter use, how searchers choose search filters and what information they would like to receive to inform their choices.

Methods: Interviews with information specialists working in, or for, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) were conducted.