Towards relational recovery: Nurses’ practices with consumers and families with dependent children in mental health inpatient units

Facilitating parent–child and family connections during parental hospitalization provides important opportunities for mental health services to support individual and family recovery. Nurses are often the primary point of contact for families in the inpatient context. They play an integral role in the care provision of consumers and families and in supporting consumers’ recovery. The aim of the present qualitative study was to explore nurses’ practice with families in inpatient mental health settings in the context of designated family rooms. Three themes were derived from the thematic analysis of semistructured interviews with 20 nurses from four mental health inpatient units. Nurses experienced tensions within their roles in balancing safety and risk, a lack of confidence in family‐focused practices in relation to role expectations, and challenges in juggling nursing care ideals with the contemporary realities of inpatient practice. A family‐centred relational recovery approach is recommended for mental health services, which is underpinned by family‐focused policies and processes, and supported at an organizational, managerial, and local‐unit level. At an individual level, nurses need professional development on the models of care they practice in, explicit role clarity on their practice with families, and education on evidence‐based brief family interventions.     

Seeking and defining the ‘special’ in specialist mental health nursing: A theoretical construct

In the context of an enduring debate about the distinct identity of mental health nursing, this qualitative study explored the nature, scope and consequences of mental health nursing practice. Data for interpretation were generated through interviews with 36 mental health nurses, five of their clients and one health care colleague, each of whom were asked to speak in as much detail as possible about what they believe is special about mental health nursing and what had influenced them to arrive at this understanding. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, the study generated a substantive theory of recovery‐focused mental health nursing expressed as ‘Being in the here and now, side by side, co‐constructing care’. The study revealed that the distinct nature and identity of mental health nursing provides the foundation that primes and drives practice scope and consequences. Conceptual interpretations of the data emphasized the mental health nursing perspective of care as an acquired lens founded in nursing as a profession and enhanced by the relational interplay between the nurse and the client that facilitates the nurse to adopt recovery‐focused practices. This theoretical construct holds the potential to be the mediating connection between client and mental health nurse. By situating mental health nursing and its central role in practice as something co‐constructed, findings from this study can be expanded beyond the Australian context, particularly in terms of mental health nursing's distinct professional identity and practice.     

Determination of Acoustic Cavitation Probabilities and Thresholds Using a Single Focusing Transducer to Induce and Detect Acoustic Cavitation Events: II. Systematic Investigation in an Agar Material

In the accompanying article (Part I), a method is described to determine acoustic cavitation probabilities in tissue-mimicking materials (TMMs) using a high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) transducer for both inducing and detecting the acoustic cavitation events, and its suitability for different sonication modes like continuous wave, single pulses (with pulse lengths from microseconds to milliseconds) and repeated burst signals is discussed. In Part II, the use of the method for a systematic study of the dependence of the acoustic cavitation thresholds in 3% (by weight) agar phantoms on the temporal sonication parameters is discussed. The values obtained at a frequency of 1.06?MHz, ranging from (0.58?±?0.12)?MPa for a 3-s continuous wave mode sonication to (5.2?±?1.0)?MPa for single shots with a length of 10 wave cycles, are discussed and interpreted on the basis of literature values and their self-consistency.     

兔肝VX2瘤血供程度对HIFU作用效果影响的初步研究

目的 探讨兔肝VX2瘤实质期血供程度对高能聚焦超声(HIFU)后肿瘤靶点处温度及凝固性坏死体积(V)大小的影响,为进一步精确控制HIFU剂量、提高治疗效率提供实验依据.方法 制作瘤兔24只并分成:10、15、20 d、无血供组(10 d成模后处死)4组,在对应时间进行相同参数HIFU辐照,对靶点实时测温,做出时间-温度曲线(TTC),测量V,对坏死周边残存肿瘤组织及正常肝组织进行微血管密度(MVD)计数.结果 (1)肿瘤MVD:10 d组＞15 d组＞20 d组(P＜0.05).(2)峰值温度(Tmax)、峰值时间(T1)、温升斜率(k1):10 d组、15 d组、20 d组之间比较差异无统计学意义(P＞0.05),此三组与无血供组比较差异有统计学意义(P＜0.05).(3)温降斜率(k2):10 d组＞15d组＞20 d组＞无血供组(P＜0.05);温降时间(T2):10 d组＜15 d组＜20 d组＜无血供组(P＜0.05);(4)V:10 d组＜15 d组＜20 d组＜无血供组(P＜0.05).结论 肿瘤血供程度对HIFU“温升”过程无显著影响,而对“冷却”过程有显著的影响.肿瘤血供越丰富,辐照后散热越快,组织越易恢复到正常温度,形成V越小.     

The Evaluation of a Compassion-Focused Therapy Group for Couples Experiencing a Dementia Diagnosis

Objectives: This study evaluated the effectiveness of a Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT) group on reducing anxiety, depression, and respiratory rate (RR) in people with dementia (PwD) and their spouses, and improving quality of life (QoL) of PwD.

Method: Sixty-four participants completed six weekly CFT sessions. Baseline and post-intervention assessments were analyzed using t-tests and Reliability Change Index.

Results: Mean baseline and post-assessment anxiety and depression scores fell in the ‘normal range’; although a significant reduction in depression with moderate effect was observed for PwD. Fifty-seven percent of PwD with borderline to abnormal baseline scores showed clinically significant improvement in anxiety and depression. For spouses, 80% showed clinically significant improvement in depression and 50% in anxiety. RR reduced for PwD and spouses with large and medium effects respectively. QoL of PwD improved with a large effect.

Conclusions: CFT appears effective in improving QoL and depression in PwD and reducing RR in PwD and spouses. CFT reduces anxiety and depression in most PwD and spouses with borderline to abnormal symptoms.

Clinical Implications: This study indicates benefits of a group-CFT intervention delivered to people with a range of dementia diagnosis and their spouses. The service should investigate whether individuals in greater distress are not accessing the group and improve engagement.     

Attachment and Object Relations in Patients With Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Implications for Therapeutic Process and Outcome

This article presents a therapeutic approach for patients with severe personality disorders, transference‐focused psychotherapy (TFP), a manualized evidence‐based treatment, which integrates contemporary object relations theory with attachment theory and research. Case material is presented from a narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) patient in TFP whose primary presenting problems were in the arena of sexuality and love relations, and whose attachment state of mind showed evidence of oscillation between dismissing and preoccupied mechanisms. Clinical process material is presented to illustrate the tactics and techniques of TFP and how they have been refined for treatment of individuals with NPD. The ways in which conflicts around sexuality and love relations were lived out in the transference is delineated with a focus on the interpretation of devalued and idealized representations of self and others, both of which are key components of the compensatory grandiose self that defensively protects the individual from an underlying sense of vulnerability and imperfection.     

Predictors of thermal response and lesion size in patients undergoing magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) is being increasingly utilized in the treatment of movement disorders such as essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). Whilst skull density ratio (SDR) has previously been correlated with achieving lesional temperature rises, other patient factors such as brain and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) volume have not previously been investigated. We aimed to investigate the effect of brain and CSF volumes on lesional temperature rises, as well as the effect of brain and CSF volumes and SDR on post-treatment lesion sizes. Fifty-four consecutive patients were studied with patient and treatment-related variables collected along with post-treatment lesion sizes. Linear regression analysis identified that SDR alone was associated with lesional temperatures. Both SDR and brain atrophy were associated with post-treatment lesion sizes on linear regression analysis. On multiple linear regression analysis SDR was significantly associated with post-treatment lesion size, and the association between brain atrophy and lesion sizes approached significance, a finding that warrants further investigation.