A meta-analysis of 295 relevant effect sizes obtained from 25,469 participants confirmed expectations that elevated blood pressure (BP) and essential hypertension (EH) would be associated with lower affect expression but with more negative affectivity and defensiveness. The strongest associations occurred for defensiveness and measures of anger and affect expression linked to an interpersonal context(s). However, a number of other factors also were found to moderate associations of BP with personality measures, including awareness of BP status, gender, occupation, and diastolic versus systolic BP assessment. Given these moderators, the authors conclude that a traditional view of personality causing EH is untenable and that, not incorporating multifactorial, synergistic approaches is likely to obscure associations of personality-behavior with EH.

Integrated group therapy, a new treatment developed specifically for patients with bipolar disorder and substance dependence, appears to be a promising approach to reduce substance use in this population.

This meta-analytic review predicted and confirmed that interpersonal contact between mental health employees or students and persons diagnosed with psychiatric disorders is associated with improved attitudes toward the latter group. As also predicted, the amount of attitude change was found to be smaller, although still significant, when the evaluative measure described a group of the "mentally ill" rather than specific individuals, and when the respondents were mental health employees rather than students. Contrary to predictions, contact interventions of longer duration were not associated with greater attitude changes. It is concluded that contact interventions occurring in mental health settings are effective in promoting attitude changes toward persons with psychiatric disorders, and methodological refinements that should strengthen the effectiveness of future contact interventions are outlined.

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Background Smoking prevalence among persons in addiction treatment is 3–4 times higher than in the general population. However, treatment programs often report organizational barriers to providing tobacco-related services. This study assessed the effectiveness of a six month organizational change intervention, Addressing Tobacco Through Organizational Change (ATTOC), to improve how programs address tobacco dependence. Methods The ATTOC intervention, implemented in three residential treatment programs, included consultation, staff training, policy development, leadership support and access to nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) medication. Program staff and clients were surveyed at pre- and post-intervention, and at 6 month follow-up. The staff survey measured knowledge of the hazards of smoking, attitudes about and barriers to treating smoking, counselor self-efficacy in providing such services, and practices used to address tobacco. The client survey measured knowledge, attitudes, and tobacco-related services received. NRT use was tracked. Results From pre- to post-intervention, staff beliefs became more favorable toward treating tobacco dependence (F(1, 163) = 7.15, p = 0.008), NRT use increased, and tobacco-related practices increased in a non-significant trend (F(1, 123) = 3.66, p = 0.058). Client attitudes toward treating tobacco dependence became more favorable (F(1, 235) = 10.58, p = 0.0013) and clients received more tobacco-related services from their program (F(1, 235) = 92.86, p < 0.0001) and from their counselors (F(1, 235) = 61.59, p < 0.0001). Most changes remained at follow-up. Conclusions The ATTOC intervention can help shift the treatment system culture and increase tobacco services in addiction treatment programs.

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A review of smoking cessation studies revealed that pharmacotherapy was effective in China. More RCTs of TCM approaches and physician advice are needed with long-term follow-up assessments and biochemical verification of self-reported abstinence before these approaches are adopted as evidence-based smoking cessation interventions in China.

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