Background: Theories are important tools in the social and natural sciences. The methods by which they are derived are rarely described and discussed. Normalization Process Theory explains how new technologies, ways of acting, and ways of working become routinely embedded in everyday practice, and has applications in the study of implementation processes. This paper describes the process by which it was built.

PURPOSE Although screening for unipolar depression is controversial, it is potentially an effi cient way to fi nd undetected cases and improve diagnostic acumen. Using a reference standard, we aimed to validate the 2-and 9-question Patient Health Questionnaires (PHQ-2 and PHQ-9) in primary care settings. The PHQ-2 comprises the fi rst 2 questions of the PHQ-9. METHODSConsecutive adult patients attending Auckland family practices completed the PHQ-9, after which they completed the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) depression reference standard. Sensitivities and specifi cities for PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 were analyzed. RESULTS There were 2,642 patients who completed both the PHQ-9 and the CIDI. Sensitivity and specifi city of the PHQ-2 for diagnosing major depression were 86% and 78%, respectively, with a score of 2 or higher and 61% and 92% with a score 3 or higher; for the PHQ-9, they were 74% and 91%, respectively, with a score of 10 or higher. For the PHQ-2 a score of 2 or higher detected more cases of depression than a score of 3 or higher. For the PHQ-9 a score of 10 or higher detected more cases of major depression than the PHQ determination of major depression originally described by Spitzer et al in 1999.CONCLUSIONS We report the largest validation study of the PHQ-2 and PHQ-9, compared with a reference standard interview, undertaken in an exclusively primary care population. The PHQ-2 score or 2 or higher had good sensitivity but poor specifi city in detecting major depression. Using a PHQ-2 threshold score of 2 or higher rather than 3 or higher resulted in more depressed patients being correctly identifi ed. A PHQ-9 score of 10 or higher appears to detect more depressed patients than the originally described PHQ-9 scoring for major depression.

IMPORTANCE Individuals with mental disorders often develop comorbidity over time. Past studies of comorbidity have often restricted analyses to a subset of disorders and few studies have provided absolute risks of later comorbidity. OBJECTIVES To undertake a comprehensive study of comorbidity within mental disorders, by providing temporally ordered age-and sex-specific pairwise estimates between the major groups of mental disorders, and to develop an interactive website to visualize all results and guide future research and clinical practice.

Rates of service use for mental health problems among those with mental disorders in Australia are less than optimal. Little international guidance is available regarding appropriate levels of treatment coverage and other comparable countries face similar difficulties. Further work is required to determine what an appropriate rate of service use is, and to set targets to reach that rate. Australia has demonstrated that concerted policy efforts can improve rates of service use. These efforts should be expanded.

A clear dose-response relationship exists between the number of chronic physical problems and depressive symptoms. The relationship between multimorbidity and depression appears to be mediated via self-perceived health related quality of life. Primary care practitioners will identify more cases of depression if they focus on those with more than one chronic health problem, no matter what the problems may be, being especially aware in the group who rate their health as poor/fair.

Objective To determine whether ascertainment of childhood obesity by surveillance followed by structured secondary prevention in primary care improved outcomes in overweight or mildly obese children. Design Randomised controlled trial nested within a baseline cross sectional survey of body mass index (BMI). Randomisation and outcomes measurement, but not participants, were blinded to group assignment. Setting 45 family practices (66 general practitioners) in Melbourne, Australia. Participants 3958 children visiting their general practitioner in May 2005-July 2006 were surveyed for BMI. Of these, 258 children aged 5 years 0 months up to their 10th birthday who were overweight or obese by International Obesity Taskforce criteria were randomised to intervention (n=139) or control (n=119) groups. Children who were very obese (UK BMI z score ≥3.0) were excluded. Intervention Four standard consultations over 12 weeks targeting change in nutrition, physical activity, and sedentary behaviour, supported by purpose designed family materials. Main outcomes measures Primary measure was BMI at 6 and 12 months after randomisation. Secondary measures were mean activity count/min by 7-day accelerometry, nutrition score from 4-day abbreviated food frequency diary, and child health related quality of life. Differences were adjusted for socioeconomic status, age, sex, and baseline BMI. Results Of 781 eligible children, 258 (33%) entered the trial; attrition was 3.1% at 6 months and 6.2% at 12 months. Adjusted mean differences (intervention − control) at 6 and 12 months were, for BMI, −0.12 (95% CI −0.40 to 0.15, P=0.4) and −0.11 (−0.45 to 0.22, P=0.5); for physical activity in counts/min, 24 (−4 to 52, P=0.09) and 11 (−26 to 49, P=0.6); and, for nutrition score, 0.2 (−0.03 to 0.4, P=0

Objectives: To reduce gain in body mass index (BMI) in overweight/mildly obese children in the primary care setting. Design: Randomized controlled trial (RCT) nested within a baseline cross-sectional BMI survey. Setting: Twenty nine general practices, Melbourne, Australia. Participants: (1) BMI survey: 2112 children visiting their general practitioner (GP) April-December 2002; (2) RCT: individually randomized overweight/mildly obese (BMI z-score o3.0) children aged 5 years 0 months-9 years 11 months (82 intervention, 81 control). Intervention: Four standard GP consultations over 12 weeks, targeting change in nutrition, physical activity and sedentary behaviour, supported by purpose-designed family materials. Main outcome measures: Primary: BMI at 9 and 15 months post-randomization. Secondary: Parent-reported child nutrition, physical activity and health status; child-reported health status, body satisfaction and appearance/self-worth. Results: Attrition was 10%. The adjusted mean difference (intervention-control) in BMI was À0.2 kg/m 2 (95% CI: À0.6 to 0.1; P ¼ 0.25) at 9 months and À0.0 kg/m 2 (95% CI: À0.5 to 0.5; P ¼ 1.00) at 15 months. There was a relative improvement in nutrition scores in the intervention arm at both 9 and 15 months. There was weak evidence of an increase in daily physical activity in the intervention arm. Health status and body image were similar in the trial arms. Conclusions: This intervention did not result in a sustained BMI reduction, despite the improvement in parent-reported nutrition. Brief individualized solution-focused approaches may not be an effective approach to childhood overweight. Alternatively, this intervention may not have been intensive enough or the GP training may have been insufficient; however, increasing either would have significant cost and resource implications at a population level.

Healthcare systems redesign and service improvement approaches are adopting participatory tools, techniques and mindsets. Participatory methods increasingly used in healthcare improvement coalesce around the concept of coproduction, and related practices of cocreation, codesign and coinnovation. These participatory methods have become the new Zeitgeist-the spirit of our times in quality improvement. The rationale for this new spirit of participation relates to voice and engagement (those with lived experience should be engaged in processes of development, redesign and improvements), empowerment (engagement in codesign and coproduction has positive individual and societal benefits) and advancement (quality of life and other health outcomes and experiences of services for everyone involved should improve as a result). This paper introduces Mental Health Experience Co-design (MH ECO), a peer designed and led adapted form of Experience-based Co-design (EBCD) developed in Australia. MH ECO is said to facilitate empowerment, foster trust, develop autonomy, self-determination and choice for people living with mental illnesses and their carers, including staff at mental health services. Little information exists about the underlying mechanisms of change; the entities, processes and structures that underpin MH ECO and similar EBCD studies. To address this, we identified eight possible mechanisms from an assessment of the activities and outcomes of MH ECO and a review of existing published evaluations. The eight mechanisms, recognition, dialogue, cooperation, accountability, mobilisation, enactment, creativity and attainment, are discussed within an 'explanatory theoretical model of change' that details these and ideal relational transitions that might be observed or not with MH ECO or other EBCD studies. We critically appraise the sociocultural and political movement in coproduction and draw on interdisciplinary theories from the humanities-narrative theory, dialogical ethics, cooperative and empowerment theory. The model advances theoretical thinking in coproduction beyond motivations and towards identifying underlying processes and entities that might impact on process and outcome. Trial registration number The Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN12614000457640 (results). The new ZeiTgeisT: pArTiCipATionThe current preoccupation with methods for citizen engagement, public participation and involvement of people with lived experience in health system redesign and service improvement might be said to represent the new Zeitgeist-the spirit of our times.