Away from crime and into treatment: diversion and aftercare for drug-using offenders

The review showed some evidence of publication bias

Can we steer drug-using offenders away from crime and into treatment? Chris Sampson explores a study of the cost-effectiveness of diversion and aftercare programmes for offenders using class A drugs.

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Exercise Therapy for Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome

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In this blog, Tracey Howe considers a new systematic review that examined the literature to determine whether exercise therapy is an effective intervention to reduce pain and patient-reported measures of activity limitations and participation restrictions (PRMALP) in patients with patellofemoral pain.

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Poor oral health and severe mental illness: what are the links?

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Helge Hasselmann summarises a recent systematic review of poor oral health and severe mental illness (SMI), which found that people with SMI were 2.8 times more likely to have lost all their teeth, and had more missing, decayed or filled teeth.

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Exercise in water for osteoarthritis of the lower limbs

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In this blog, Tracey Howe considers a recent systematic review which examines the effect of therapeutic aquatic exercise on symptoms and function associated with lower limb osteoarthritis.

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Cognitive bias modification for anxiety and depression in children and adolescents

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Shirley Reynolds writes her debut Mental Elf blog on a recent meta-analysis of cognitive bias modification (CBM) for anxiety and depression in children and adolescents. The review suggests that, on the face of it, we should not be investing in future CBM research, but is it that simple?

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Psychotherapy for depression in primary care. Better evidence please…

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Andrew Shepherd summarises a recent systematic review of the effectiveness of psychotherapy for depression in primary care, which contains a lot of data but leaves him feeling rather deflated.

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Diagnostic test accuracy of first rank symptoms for schizophrenia

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Raphael Underwood summarises a recently updated Cochrane systematic review, which aimed to systematically evaluate the accuracy of first rank symptoms for diagnosing schizophrenia.

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Parent Infant Psychotherapy: a gap in the evidence

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Paul Ramchandani assesses the latest Cochrane review on Parent Infant Psychotherapy for improving parental and infant mental health, which finds little evidence to support the claim that PIP is an evidence-based treatment.

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Cognitive bias modification for anxiety and depression: is practice based on sound evidence?

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Sarah McDonald reviews a recent meta-analysis on the efficacy of cognitive bias modification interventions in anxiety and depression, which finds a dearth of reliable research to support the use of this treatment.

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