Managers perspectives on the social worker role in community mental health teams: valued, challenged and hard to define

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In his debut blog, Robbie Fraser reviews findings from a staff survey stating that the role of a social worker in community mental health teams is valued, but hard to define.

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One size doesn’t fit all: new insights into eating disorders and autism

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In her debut blog, Shania Lorenz summarises a qualitative research study that looks at the experiences of women with eating disorders and autism, their parents and health professionals.

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New evidence on treatments for symptoms of depression in dementia

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Andrew Sommerlad appraises a recent review on the efficacy of interventions for depression in people with dementia, which identified several non-drug treatments that can have a meaningful effect on depressive symptoms in dementia.

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Knitting makes me happy

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Dafni Katsampa reviews a recent qualitative study that examines the perceived benefits of knitting and its role in the lives of people who self-identified as passionate knitters.

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Psychosocial interventions for negative symptoms in psychosis

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Rachel Upthegrove reviews a new systematic review and meta-analysis of psychological and psychosocial interventions for negative symptoms in psychosis.

This is the third in a new series of Mental Elf blogs produced in partnership with the British Journal of Psychiatry.

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Specialist depression service may help people with persistent depression

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Ben Hannigan reports on a recent RCT of the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of a specialist depression service versus usual specialist mental health care to manage persistent depression.

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Occupational therapy for stroke survivors in UK care homes: findings of an RCT study

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Jill Manthorpe discusses a ‘gold standard’ RCT study on occupational therapy for stroke survivors in UK care homes and the implications of the findings.

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Helping people with depression return to work

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Meg Fluharty reports on a new Cochrane review of interventions to improve return to work in depressed people. The review finds moderate quality evidence for a range of work-directed and clinical interventions that can help people with depression return to work.

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Occupational Therapists gather feedback from people with learning disabilities but do little to reduce potential bias

Without each of us raising our voices, agitating, demanding and complaining, nothing much more will happen to reduce premature deaths in people with learning disabilities

Getting feedback about interventions from people with learning disabilities involves a number of challenges, including of course communication difficulties The researchers in this study were interested in how occupational therapists (OT’s) gathered feedback from people who used their services. They looked at this by asking 70 OT’s to complete a questionnaire and a subset of [read the full story…]