Assessing activation before treatment might be useful for scheduling the delivery of mental health services as well as evaluating educational interventions aimed at improving patient engagement in mental health.

This study investigated the effects of the Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS) in adult outpatient treatment at a hospital-based mental health clinic. It also investigated whether the effects differed with the timing of the treatment within a 4-year implementation period, with clients' initial distress levels, and between therapists. Adult clients (N = 170) were randomized to treatment as usual (TAU) or routine outcome monitoring (ROM). Twenty therapists provided therapy in both conditions. Therapy outcome was measured by the Behavior and Symptoms Identification Scale (BASIS-32). Data were analyzed in a series of multilevel models (MLMs). Clients in the ROM condition were 2.5 times more likely to demonstrate improvement than those in the TAU condition. Controlling for therapist variability, the overall effect size (ES) in favor of ROM was small (d = 0.26, p = .037). The superiority for ROM over TAU increased significantly over the duration of the study. ROM effects were not moderated by clients' initial distress levels. Differences between therapists accounted for 9%-10% of the variability in outcomes, and there were no significant differences in ROM effects between therapists. ROM was associated with better treatment outcomes independent of clients' initial distress levels. Clients treated later in the study benefitted more from ROM than those treated earlier. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

The COVID-19 pandemic has created great uncertainty around the world, and due to the pandemic, nurses have been exposed to an increase in highly stressful clinical situations. This study examines the relationships between perceived stress and emotional disorders among nurses who have provided direct patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic and explores the mediating role of resilience in these relationships. In an online cross-sectional design, we asked Spanish nurses (N = 214) to complete self-reported scales, and we performed correlation and mediation analyses between perceived stress (Perceived Stress Scale, PSS-4), resilience (Wagnild Resilience Scale, RS-14), wellbeing (World Health Organization Wellbeing Index, five items, WHO-5), anxiety (PHQ-2) and depression (GAD-2). The nurses self-reported moderate levels of perceived stress, considerable psychological distress and high resilience. We found resilience to be significantly negatively correlated with the reported levels of perceived stress, anxiety and depression (p < 0.001). The mediating analysis revealed that resilience played a protective role in the direct relationships of stress with depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. To conclude, our findings supported the hypothesis that resilience mediated the relationship between stress and mental health.

NCT01601587.

SRIT contracts can be recommended as it supports the rights to self-determination, promote user participation in decision-making in own treatment without any indication of adverse effects.

No abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Fear of COVID-19 Scale (FCV-19S) for the general Spanish population. Method: A cross-sectional investigation was carried out in several stages. Participants (N = 699) between the ages of 18 and 73 (M = 27.79; SD = 12.68) completed both the FCV-19S and the Hospital, Anxiety, and Depression Scale (HADS). We performed descriptive, exploratory factorial (n = 349), confirmatory (n = 350), and scale reliability analyses. Results: The results confirmed the factor structure of the original scale as well as the scale’s goodness-of-fit indices and good internal consistency (α = .91, ω = .98). The correlations between the Spanish FCV-19S and the HADS support the scale’s validity, especially for the subdimension of anxiety. Conclusions: The Spanish version of the FCV-19S appears to be a valid measure for the assessment of fear in an adult population. The present study moves research forward by providing a confirmatory analysis of the gender variable’s influence on the factor analysis. The FCV-19S-Spanish provides a valid brief measure to evaluate fear of being infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The results also revealed that fear was higher among women than among men, which is important as it suggests that more attention needs to be paid to assessing and treating women’s fear. Assessing and treating fear represents an important step for the prevention of future mental health problems.

Little is known about the mechanisms through which routine outcome monitoring (ROM) influences psychotherapy outcomes. In this secondary analysis of data from a randomized clinical trial , we investigated whether the working alliance mediated the effect of the Partners for Change Outcome Monitoring System (PCOMS), a ROM system that provides session-by-session feedback on clients' well-being and the alliance. Adult individuals (N ϭ 170) referred for hospital-based outpatient mental health treatment were randomized to individual psychotherapy either with the PCOMS ROM system, or without (treatment as usual [TAU]). Treatment was provided by the same therapists (N ϭ 20) in both conditions. A multilevel mediation model was developed to test if there was a significant indirect effect of ROM on client impairment at posttreatment through the alliance at 2 months' treatment controlled for first-session alliance. Alliance ratings increased more from session 1 to 2 months' treatment in the ROM than TAU condition, and alliance increase was associated with less posttreatment impairment. A significant indirect effect of ROM on treatment outcomes through alliance increase (p ϭ .043) explained an estimated 23.0% of the effect of ROM on outcomes. The results were consistent with a theory of the alliance as one mechanism through which ROM works.