Mental Health First Aid improves knowledge, reduces stigma and makes people more likely to offer support

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Sarah Knowles summarises a recent meta-analysis of Mental Health First Aid, which claims to be the first study to quantitatively synthesise the evidence in this field.

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Is aquatic exercise training effective for fibromyalgia?

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One of our female Elf friends has fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes pain all over their body. Do you know that fibromyalgia affects around seven times as many women as men? The condition typically develops between the ages of 30 and 50, but can occur in people of any age, including children and the elderly. [read the full story…]

Pharmacotherapy for PTSD: an update on the evidence finds some efficacy but small effect sizes

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Patrick Kennedy-Williams summarises a recent systematic review of pharmacotherapy for PTSD, which compares antidepressants with placebo for post-traumatic stress disorder. [Please note: this blog was amended on 7/5/15].

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Motivational interviewing may help people quit smoking, but more research is needed

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Olivia Maynard summarises the recent Cochrane systematic review on motivational interviewing for smoking cessation, which concludes that motivational interviewing may assist people to quit smoking, but does not tell us much about the actual components of MI that optimise the success of the intervention.

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The more psychotic you are, the more benefit there is in taking antipsychotics

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John Baker reviews a recent participant-level meta-analysis of six placebo-controlled studies, which looks at the initial severity of schizophrenia and the efficacy of antipsychotics including Olanzapine, Risperidone and Amisulpride.

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Health related quality of life after total hip replacement

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Do you know that over 1 million hip replacements are carried out each year? The majority of Total Hip Replacements are for people with severe arthritis of the hip that causes pain and reduction in function. We elves wanted to know for someone with osteoarthritis of the hip what are the medium term health related [read the full story…]

Dementia risk factors in people with mild cognitive impairment

People with a learning disability and family carers are able to talk about end-of-life care and healthcare professionals need to acknowledge and respect this expertise

Akshay Nair summarises a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of modifiable predictors of dementia in mild cognitive impairment. The meta-analysis finds that diabetes and the presence of any neuropsychiatric symptoms significantly predicted the conversion of mild cognitive impairment to dementia.

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Screening for bipolar spectrum disorders (MDQ, BSDS and HCL-32)

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Elena Marcus appraises a recent meta-analysis of screening for bipolar spectrum disorders, which concludes that the MDQ and HCL-32 tools are supported by more evidence than the BSDS tool.

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