Severe Mental Illness Needs Empirically Supported Assessment and Treatments

This commentary describes the prevailing mental health-care paradigm as hindering the advantageous and sensible utilization of psychologists in the treatment of individuals with severe mental illness (SMI). The commentary suggests that the failure to utilize clinical psychology in treating SMI is part of a longstanding trend toward the narrow viewing of SMI as exclusively biological conditions requiring medical treatment exclusively. In neglecting a host of treatment interventions, a broad knowledge base of empirically supported treatments, and specific assessment skills available to clinical psychologists, an opportunity is missed to better enhance the lives of the individuals with SMI and even facilitate the effectiveness of biological interventions. This commentary raises the troubling implications of the underutilization of psychologists in the care of those with SMI, including the moral imperative raised by our absence, the neglect of the development and implementation of effective psychological interventions, and the erroneous message this absence sends about what it is that psychologists practice and who they are able to help. This commentary describes some of the ways in which clinical psychologists have contributed to the care of SMI and argues that the expertise of clinical psychologists in empirically supported assessment and treatment is a resource that should not be deprived to members of society desperately in need of treatments if we are to continue to reduce suffering and enhance quality of life. This commentary elucidates some ways in which members of the profession of clinical psychology can meet their ethical obligation to take part in the treatment of SMI.     

Depression in Long-Term Care

The assessment and treatment of depression in long-term care (LTC) settings poses unique challenges to both clinicians and researchers. In this review we discuss the variety of forms depression can take among LTC residents and the influence the LTC environment can play on the development and maintenance of depression. We describe instruments that can be used to assess depressive symptoms, along with their strengths and liabilities. Additionally, we summarize treatment approaches, with an emphasis on the relatively limited number of empirically informed interventions. Throughout, we describe modifications that may improve the accuracy of assessment and the effectiveness of psychological treatments. Depression, while common among LTC residents, appears amenable to psychological intervention, although the field is far from identifying empirically supported treatments in the LTC setting.     

Empirically Supported Forensic Assessment

The field of Forensic Psychology has greatly expanded over the past several decades, including the use of psychological assessment in addressing forensic issues. A number of surveys have been conducted regarding the tests used commonly by forensic psychologists. These surveys show that while tests specifically designed to address forensic issues have proliferated, traditional clinical assessment tests continue to play a crucial role in many forensic evaluations. The current article identifies some of the most salient characteristics of empirically supported forensic tests and provides examples of tests felt to meet each of these five criteria. These criteria include adequate standardization, acceptable reliability and validity, general acceptance within the community of forensic evaluators, availability of test data from cross‐cultural and cross‐ethnic samples, and comparison data relevant to specific forensic populations. Although the guidelines provided in this article provide a helpful framework for evaluating the usefulness of forensic tests, the establishment of a national review panel or workgroup to address this issue would be highly useful, particularly in the potential controversial task of identifying those tests that meet reasonable guidelines to be identified as empirically supported forensic assessment instruments.     

A cost study of new media supported near oral anticoagulant treatment follow-up

OBJECTIVE: In this study we sought to develop a comparative cost evaluation between conventional and new media, e.g. web, mobile communication technology and digital television, and near patient testing supported anticoagulant (ac) treatment follow-up in a primary health care setting. METHOD: The comparison was done for two patient groups, self-care and home-care patients, on oral ac treatment in the primary health care centre of the rural and sparsely populated municipality of Ikaalinen. In practise case analysis was used to develop cost functions from collected economic data, which were analysed to determine the break-even point in total cost between conventional and new media supported follow-up for the two patient groups. RESULTS: In the home-care setting the break-even point is 14 patients; in the self-care setting new media supported follow-up is always more cost-effective. CONCLUSION: The results illustrate that the use of new media and near patient testing in ac treatment follow-up brings about an economic benefit even with a small number of patients in the Ikaalinen setting. However, the sensitivity of break-even to perturbations in the individual costs of the used economic models remains high. Still, when the economic benefits are considered together with the clinical and practical benefits shown to result from self-testing, self-management and use of new media technologies the new service models can be said to provide noticeable benefits both in terms of quality of care and economics in our specific setting.     

Attitudes of undergraduate medical students of Addis Ababa University towards medical practice and migration, Ethiopia

Background

Mobile technology is increasingly being used by clinicians to access up-to-date information for patient care. These offer learning opportunities in the clinical setting for medical students but the underlying pedagogic theories are not clear. A conceptual framework is needed to understand these further. Our initial questions were how the medical students used the technology, how it enabled them to learn and what theoretical underpinning supported the learning.

Methods

387 medical students were provided with a personal digital assistant (PDA) loaded with medical resources for the duration of their clinical studies. Outcomes were assessed by a mixed-methods triangulation approach using qualitative and quantitative analysis of surveys, focus groups and usage tracking data.

Results

Learning occurred in context with timely access to key facts and through consolidation of knowledge via repetition. The PDA was an important addition to the learning ecology rather than a replacement. Contextual factors impacted on use both positively and negatively. Barriers included concerns of interrupting the clinical interaction and of negative responses from teachers and patients. Students preferred a future involving smartphone platforms.

Conclusions

This is the first study to describe the learning ecology and pedagogic basis behind the use of mobile learning technologies in a large cohort of undergraduate medical students in the clinical environment. We have developed a model for mobile learning in the clinical setting that shows how different theories contribute to its use taking into account positive and negative contextual factors. The lessons from this study are transferable internationally, to other health care professions and to the development of similar initiatives with newer technology such as smartphones or tablet computers.     

Genetic counsellors in Sweden: their role and added value in the clinical setting

Genetic testing is becoming more commonplace in general and specialist health care and should always be accompanied by genetic counselling, according to Swedish law. Genetic counsellors are members of the multi-disciplinary team providing genetic counselling. This study examined the role and added value of genetic counsellors in Sweden, using a cross-sectional on-line survey. The findings showed that the genetic counsellors added value in the clinical setting by acting as the ‘spider-in-the-web'' regarding case management, having a more holistic, ethical and psychological perspective, being able to offer continuous support and build a relationship with the patient, and being more accessible than medical geneticists. The main difference between a genetic counsellor and medical geneticist was that the doctor had the main medical responsibility. Thus genetic counsellors in Sweden contribute substantially to the care of patients in the clinical genetic setting.     

Assessment and Psychological Treatment of Depression in Older Adults with Terminal or Life-Threatening Illness

Depression decreases the quality of life and hinders efforts to palliate symptoms of adults with terminal or life-threatening illness. Nevertheless, depression often may go undetected and untreated in palliative care and hospice settings due to a number of factors, including the overlap of depressive symptoms with those of serious medical illness and concern that frail elderly patients cannot tolerate psychotherapy or antidepressant treatment. In this paper we review the available research regarding assessment and treatment of depression in older adults with terminal or life-threatening illness, focusing on patients who are seen in palliative care, cancer treatment, or hospice settings. Although the prevalence of depression is relatively high in these settings in mixed-age adult samples, studies focused exclusively on older adults are rare and there appear to be no randomized controlled trials of psychotherapy conducted to date that specifically address their needs. There are, however, promising psychological approaches featured in case reports and pilot studies that are consistent with empirically supported therapies for the general treatment of depression in older adults. Based on these preliminary findings and reports, we offer tentative recommendations for the assessment and treatment of depression in terminally ill older adults. We conclude that controlled research on psychotherapy for late-life depression is both feasible and urgently needed in palliative care, cancer care, and hospice settings.     

Adapting empirically supported treatments in the era of integrated care: A roadmap for success

The emerging era of integrated care represents a major opportunity for clinical psychology to migrate empirically supported treatments (ESTs) into the mainstream of public health. To succeed will require us to modify current ESTs to make them brief, cost‐effective, patient‐centered and acceptable to and easily learned by both the mental health and health‐care professionals that will deliver them. Changes to the recently modified standards for designating ESTs are proposed that will facilitate adoption of a population health model of treatment development and testing, designed to promote rapid dissemination of empirically supported interventions that are a “good fit” for integrated settings. Defining characteristics of the “new look” for ESTs are examined.     

A critical appraisal of 'evidence-based medicine' in allergy and asthma

 Clinical guidelines are 'systematically developed statements to assist practitioner and patient decisions about appropriate health care for specific clinical circumstances'. They may offer concise instructions on which diagnostic or screening tests to order, stipulate how medical services should be provided, how long patients should stay in hospital, or many other details relevant to clinical practice. This paper argues that guidelines should be simple, adapted to the clinical setting they inform and to treatment availability in their respective geographic context and that they should not be viewed as a yardstick but as support for physicians. The benefits of evidence-based-medicine (EBM), which defines the value of medical interventions in terms of empiric evidence from clinical trials, are growing in many contexts and are well described. Not sufficiently acknowledged, however, are the limits of EBM. A gap still exists between clinical research and clinical practice which should be better recognized and assessed.     

Making the genomic leap in HCT: application of second-generation sequencing to clinical advances in hematopoietic cell transplantation

Recent developments in second-generation sequencing (SGS) technologies provide an avenue for achieving rapid and accurate high-throughput analysis of human and microbial genomic diversity. SGS technologies have the potential to transform existing medical management of complex and life-threatening medical conditions by enabling clinicians to develop disease-targeted clinical care plans for each patient. In this review, we outline how innovative SGS-based approaches can improve the care of recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), a life-saving procedure that carries a 1-year mortality risk of over 30%. We specifically evaluate foreseeable applications of SGS-based technology in facilitating rapid, phase-sensitive human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing, assessment of non-HLA genomic compatibility, identifying patients at high risk for adverse drug reactions, and post-HCT monitoring for engraftment, minimal residual disease and infection. We conclude that innovative SGS approaches have the capacity to revolutionize the HCT recipient risk assessment process, support non-invasive clinical monitoring and improve patient outcomes, thereby setting the stage for a new era of genomically informed patient-centered medicine.     

Psychological aspects of genetic counseling: A legal perspective

Carrier and presymptomatic genetic testing information can have profound psychological consequences for a patient and the family. American and Canadian professional accreditation standards for clinical genetics state that the health care provider must be prepared to provide psychological support. Through a survey of human/medical genetics journals and texts, this article identifies those protocols that constitute an appropriate standard of care, and examines the legal implications, particularly with regard to the law of medical malpractice. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.     

Risk for domestic violence: factors associated with perpetration and victimization

The extent and potential dangerousness of the problem of domestic violence warrants systematic screening and assessment in all mental health settings. Few empirical studies have approached the question of domestic violence with the aim of identifying risk markers, making it impossible to identify a particular characteristic or set of characteristics that can be used to identify individuals at risk for perpetrating or becoming the victims of domestic violence. However, there are a number of factors that have been identified as correlates of domestic violence that may eventually prove useful for identifying individuals at risk, but the extant literature does not provide the empirical support at this time. Because many of these correlates may be brought to the attention of mental health and medical professionals (e.g., depression, substance use/abuse, physical injuries) and given the absence of established risk factors for domestic violence, there is a need for clinicians to systematically assess for violence among all of their patients. By identifying factors that might help clinicians realize that many of their patients are at risk for domestic violence, we hope to encourage them to attend to this potentially dangerous problem. Ongoing assessment in the context of knowledge regarding correlates of domestic violence can provide important information for evaluating risk of a particular violent incident. In addition, we outline strategies for assessing violence and violence risk in both perpetrators and victims in order to assist clinicians in approaching this difficult topic in a clinical setting. A careful assessment of the potential for violence within clients' ongoing relationships is necessary for clinicians to provide appropriate clinical care.     

Clinical Psychologists in Departments of Psychiatry: Current Issues and a Look to the Future

The aim of this article is to discuss issues facing psychologists who work in departments of psychiatry. The authors both have experience in such settings and address relationships between psychologists and psychiatrists, the differences in training backgrounds and approaches to understanding and treating mental health disorders, and issues related to productivity. In many departments, clinical psychologists do not have equal standing with psychiatrists when it comes to compensation, competition for resources, and administrative representation. Nevertheless, when calls for increasingly multimodal research and treatment approaches are considered along with the requirement that psychiatry residency training programs require instruction in empirically supported psychological treatments, one recognizes that psychologists will continue to fill important roles in departments of psychiatry for the foreseeable future.     

Use of standardized patients to enhance a psychiatry clerkship.

Changes in psychiatric health care delivery driven by such major shifts as deinstitutionalization, community-based care, and managed care have greatly altered the educational milieu for third-year psychiatry clerkships. Students may be assigned exclusively to alcohol and substance abuse treatment units, consultation-liaison services, or outpatient clinics, and may not have as broad an exposure as is desirable to patients with a variety of psychiatric illnesses. The authors describe a pilot course they developed in 2001, Clinical Psychiatric Assessment and Diagnosis, for third-year medical students at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences medical school. The course uses standardized patients (SPs) to help students gain broader clinical experience. In psychiatry, a growing body of literature supports the acceptability, reliability, and validity of objective structured clinical examination assessment using SPs for medical students. Only a few articles report the use of SPs to primarily teach psychiatry instead of evaluating student proficiency in clinical psychiatry. Since this course was developed, the National Board of Medical Examiners announced that all medical students will be required to pass a clinical skills test in order to practice medicine, beginning with the class of 2005. The examination will use SPs modeling different clinical scenarios. In light of this change, many medical schools may have to reevaluate and possibly revamp their curriculums to insure sufficient acquisition of clinical skills in different specialties. The use of SPs in psychiatry could provide an effective, primary clinical teaching experience to address this new requirement as well.     

Managing violence in primary care: an evidence-based approach.

An understanding of the risk factors for violence can help primary care staff to evaluate and manage risk in the primary care setting. They will be able to acknowledge that risk factors are not static but can vary according to time, place, situation, and support networks. General practitioners (GPs) should not ignore their clinical acumen, but should use their knowledge of the patient to form part of a risk assessment. Managing violence in primary care should focus on the individual; for example, in the training of primary care staff. It should also involve an examination of the wider structure of primary care; for example, the safe design of buildings, avoiding long waiting times, and having 'no intoxication' policies for practices. There is a pressing need for primary care-based research in this area. We acknowledge that in our understanding of this topic there are two extremes that should be avoided. The first is that our perceived risk of violence often exceeds the real, absolute risk. Where our perceptions are overstated, patients run the risk of being excluded from primary care or of being inappropriately detained on psychiatric wards under the Mental Health Act. At the other extreme, where risk is understated, staff can play the 'hero' or the 'martyr' in an attempt to defuse a situation without support from other colleagues. Like many other situations in primary care, working in isolation carries real and important risks. Threats of violence are best managed in primary care by having a collaborative practice approach underpinned by a support ethos from primary care organisations.     

Are We Doing Our Homework?

[Clin Psychol Sci Prac 17: 162–165, 2010] Kazantzis, Whittington, and Dattilio (2010 ) provide convincing evidence for the role of homework in effective psychotherapy. Homework is a common element of many empirically supported treatments for a variety of clinical problems, but we cannot assume that homework is used commonly in routine, community‐based psychotherapy. This commentary reviews emerging data on the use of homework in routine care for childhood behavioral disorders, and identifies potential barriers of use as well as research priorities to address these barriers.     

Assessment in Clinical Psychology: A Perspective on the Past, Present Challenges, and Future Prospects

Assessment emerged during the early twentieth century with the development of tests for assessing characteristics such as intelligence, personality, and suitability for employment. The long, interwoven relationship between clinical psychology and assessment began to change during the 1970s when many clinical psychologists became more involved in behavioral therapy and moved away from psychological testing and with the expanding role of managed care in the mental health services. Clinical assessment broadened into forensic, medical, and personnel applications with psychologists expanding professional roles. The status of assessment was reviewed and some challenges were highlighted. The potential for assessment to contribute to the understanding of mental health problems through collaborative cross-cultural study of psychopathology was suggested with the growing development of clinical psychology internationally.     

Pathology practice in a resource-poor setting: Mwanza, Tanzania

Practicing pathology in a resource-poor setting presents many challenges that are unfamiliar to pathologists in developed countries. Typically, the number of pathologists in a resource-poor country is small, even as a percentage of the total medical workforce. Although pathology should play a central role in the delivery of appropriate health care to the patient, this role is often hidden and not well recognized by patients, clinical colleagues, or other stakeholders, such as administrators and politicians. The public tends to think of the pathologist as the "Doctor of the Dead." The financial rewards are also small. Consequently, it is difficult to recruit physicians into pathology. The lack of human and material resources allocated to pathology leads inevitably to a large gap in health care for many patients, with an unmeasured negative effect, at both the individual and societal levels. Correct management of the patient, even when available, is not administered because of the lack of pathologic information. Surgery may be performed without the benefit of preoperative or postoperative pathologic confirmation of the diagnosis, let alone identification of important prognostic information. The pathologist plays a key role as an educator in developing countries to medical students, allied health professionals, and medical colleagues and is, therefore, called upon to provide many hours of teaching. The pathologist is uniquely qualified to provide knowledge and understanding regarding the diseases in the region where he or she practices. Although many of these challenges are universal, they are perhaps nowhere more acute than in resource-poor settings.     

Moving from empirically supported treatment lists to practice guidelines in psychotherapy: the role of the placebo concept

The use of placebos is the "gold standard" in studies of investigational drugs, and of other medical procedures as well. Several recent trends have suggested the use of placebos in studies of psychotherapy to isolate effective treatment components, and as a basis for establishing lists of empirically supported treatments. Unlike within the domain of medicine, in which the logic of placebos is relatively straightforward, the concept of placebo as applied to psychotherapy is fraught with both conceptual and practical problems. The evidence-based practice of psychotherapy can best be promoted through the development of practice guidelines, for which psychotherapy placebos are unnecessary. Moreover, even if problems associated with psychological placebos could be overcome, they are not necessary in psychotherapy research.