What are mental health staff doing to address the sexual health needs of service users? It’s complicated.

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Sarah Watts explores a small qualitative study that asked NHS staff about the sexual health and sexuality needs of people with serious mental illness.

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Mental health diagnosis: views and experiences of service users and clinicians

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Vanessa Pinfold and Jennie Parker from the McPin Foundation explore a recent systematic review of service user, clinician, and carer perspectives on mental health diagnosis.

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The long view: what has really changed with recovery?

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Simon Bradstreet explores a recent qualitative study looking at 20 years in the lives of a group of 20 people with psychosis in Ireland. The research provides evidence on the pros and cons of the adoption of recovery-based approaches from people who are uniquely placed to provide a long-term view.

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Family involvement in acute mental health care

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Alison Faulkner carefully considers a recent collaborative conceptual review, which asks why and how families should get involved in acute mental health care.

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Use of mental health services may reduce adolescent depression

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Jess Bone publishes her debut blog on a recent longitudinal cohort study, which looks at the reduction in adolescent depression after contact with mental health services.

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New NICE guidance on dual diagnosis: sterile or infectious?

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Ian Hamilton and Mark Holland appraise new NICE guidance on dual diagnosis. Their blog highlights the ongoing inequity in service provision for people with serious mental illness and comorbid substance misuse.

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The weekend effect in mental health services: new evidence suggests no increased risk of suicide, inpatient mortality or seclusion

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Laura Hemming reviews two recent studies that investigate whether patients admitted to a psychiatric hospital at the weekend had worse clinical outcomes, as well as the specific weekend versus weekday incidences of suicide in very high-risk mental health patients.

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Costs of the police service and mental health care pathways

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Alastair Canaway reviews a new study that maps and costs pathways through mental health and police services, and models the cost impact of implementing key policy recommendations.

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Mental health service users on Twitter: a platform for feedback and support?

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Sarah Knowles considers the challenges facing researchers using Twitter to find out more about mental health service user experiences of feedback and support.

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How can we improve mental health services for young people? Ask them

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Sarah Knowles appraises and summarises a thematic analysis of young people’s views of UK mental health services, which calls for greater involvement of young people themselves in redesigning services to be more engaging and accessible.

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