Objective:
This study assessed the efficacy of a neurocognitive screening evaluation and brief therapy model to improve RTW outcomes for workers who experienced mild head injuries.
Methods:
Patients referred were evaluated using a neurocognitive and psychological screening battery. Work-focused cognitive behavioral therapy was provided when appropriate, addressing the role of negative emotional adjustment and functional sleep disturbance in prolonging recovery.
Results:
Average time to RTW was 7 weeks post-evaluation, despite workers being off an average of 10 months between injury and referral dates. Overall, 99% were released to full-duty work without restrictions or accommodations.
Conclusions:
This study demonstrates the favorable outcomes achieved via a structured, clinically driven program for workers who experience head-involved injuries, validating previous research on the importance of recognizing the role of psychological factors in prolonging concussion recovery.
This study demonstrates the benefits of psychological treatment as an adjunctive intervention for improving work-relevant and adaptive functional outcomes and reducing duration of recovery for frontline essential workers diagnosed with COVID-19. The study has relevance for all workers for whom COVID-19 recovery is complicated by psychosocial factors or mental illness.
Smoking among the Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI) creates significant health problems. This study explored stage of change transitions over time among smokers with serious mental illness (SMI) and how dose of a brief intervention and other psychosocial variables were related to stage transitions. Participants were a subsample of 110 patients who participated in a larger controlled trial (Dixon, et al., 2009) examining whether psychiatrists in mental health clinics implementing the “5 A’s” (Ask, Advise, Assess, Assist, Arrange) significantly reduced smoking among persons with SMI. Participants were classified into one of the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) stages of change for smoking cessation as well as classified into groups based upon the pattern of stage status transitions over time (i.e., Regressors, Stable, Inconsistent, Progressors with and without a successful quit). Modest quit rates for this brief intervention were found at one-year (6.4%) and the dose of the intervention was meaningfully related to positive stage transitions. Cessation outcomes from the controlled trial (Dixon, et al., 2009) indicated a small effect on smoking cessation, which is confirmed in this stage transition secondary analysis with a subset of these smokers. However, these results suggest that a brief intervention delivered by psychiatrists in a mental health treatment setting does seem to make an impact on these smokers.
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