Universal interventions to prevent mental illness in medical students

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Tayla McCloud summarises a systematic review and meta-analysis on the effectiveness of universal programmes for the prevention of suicidal ideation, behaviour and mental ill health in medical students.

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The struggle is real: involving patients and the public in doctoral research

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Laura Hemming summarises a recent paper exploring how best to involve patients and the public in doctoral research, its impact and the resources needed.

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How do sexual assault services identify and treat mental health and substance misuse problems?

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Anjuli Kaul explores a recent systematic review on the identification and treatment of mental health and substance misuse problems in sexual assault services.

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Dog therapy for dementia: can fluffy friends help with thinking and memory problems?

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Clare Dolan and Sarah Gregory summarise a recent systematic review on the effectiveness of dog therapy for people living with dementia, which suggests that animal assisted therapy may be a useful complementary treatment to help with the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia.

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Is air pollution associated with poor mental health?

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Ioannis Bakolis summarises a systematic review and meta-analysis exploring the association between air pollution exposure and the risk of mental health difficulties such as depression, anxiety and suicide.

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Passive sedentary behaviours increase the risk of depression in adults

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Susie Rudge highlights a recent paper in the British Journal of Psychiatry which suggests that people with depression should be encouraged to replace passive sedentary behaviours with mentally active ones for the best possible chance of symptom improvement.

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Language matters: how should we talk about suicide?

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In her debut blog, Charlotte Huggett summarises a recent online survey which explored views on the language we should use to discuss suicide. The study concludes that the most acceptable phrases are currently: “attempted suicide”, “took their own life”, “died by suicide” and “ended their life”.

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Psychosocial assessment, self-harm repetition and the role of the assessor

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Katherine Chartes reviews a cohort study comparing risk of repeat self-harm after psychosocial assessment, which suggests that psychosocial assessments can reduce re-attendance by 30% within a 12-month timeframe.

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A care home innovation programme to reduce hospital admissions through COVID-19 lens

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Liz Sampson reviews a recent 4-year evaluation of the Care Home Innovation Programme (CHIP) aiming to reduce hospital admissions in older care home residents.

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CBT for health anxiety: should it be delivered in person or online?

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Francesca Bentivegna explores a timely RCT concluding that delivering internet-based (email) CBT for health anxiety is non-inferior to face to face CBT in the short-term. The study also concludes that iCBT is more cost-effective.

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