Charles Webb

Bio: Charles Webb is an academic researcher from Stony Brook University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Motivational enhancement therapy & Cognitive behavioral therapy. The author has an hindex of 14, co-authored 16 publications receiving 2117 citations. Previous affiliations of Charles Webb include University of Connecticut Health Center & University of Miami.

The Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) experiment: Rationale, study design and analysis plans.

Abstract: Aims This paper provides a description of the rationale, study design, treatments and assessment procedures used in the Cannabis Youth Treatment (CYT) experiment. Design CYT was designed to (a) test the relative effectiveness, cost and benefit–cost of five promising treatment interventions under field conditions and (b) provide evidence based manual-guided models of these interventions to the treatment field. Setting The study involved two community-based treatment programs and two major medical centers. Participants Participants were 600 adolescents recruited from the regular intake who were between the ages of 12 and 18, had used marijuana in the past 90 days, and met one or more criteria of dependence or abuse. Interventions Participants were randomly assigned to one of five interventions: Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Family Support Network (FSN), Adolescent Community Reinforcement Approach (ACRA), or Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT). Measurements Self-report data were collected at intake, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months post discharge using the Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN), as well as several supplemental self-reports, collateral reports, urine testing, and service logs. Findings This paper reports on the study's implementation including the psychometric properties of the measures (alphas over 0.8), validity of self-report (kappa over 0.6), high rates of treatment completion (81% completed two or more months), and high rates of follow-up (over 94% per wave). Conclusions The feasibility of implementing the CYT manual-guided treatment and quality assurance model in community-based adolescent treatment programs is discussed.

Epidemiology of psychiatric and alcohol disorders in Ukraine: findings from the Ukraine World Mental Health survey.

Abstract: Background This study presents the lifetime, 12-month, and 1-month prevalence estimates of nine psychiatric and alcohol disorders in Ukraine assessed as part of the World Health Organization (WHO) World Mental Health (WMH) research program. The Ukraine WMH survey is the first psychiatric epidemiologic study in a former Soviet Union country to administer a structured psychiatric interview to a nationally representative sample.

Five outpatient treatment models for adolescent marijuana use: a description of the Cannabis Youth Treatment Interventions

Abstract: The five manual-guided treatment models tested in the Cannabis Youth Treatment study funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment are described. The five models include (a) a 6-week intervention consisting of two sessions of individual motivational enhancement therapy plus three sessions of group cognitive behavioral therapy (MET/CBT5); (b) a 12-week intervention consisting of two sessions of motivational enhancement therapy plus 10 sessions of group cognitive behavioral therapy treatment (MET/CBT12); (c) a 12-week intervention consisting of MET/CBT12 plus the family support network (FSN), a multi-component intervention that includes parent education, family therapy and case management; (d) a 12-week intervention based on the adolescent community reinforcement approach (ACRA), an individual behavioral treatment approach designed to help adolescents and their parents reshape their environment and learn new skills; and (e) multi-dimensional family therapy (MDFT), a multi-faceted, developmentally and contextually oriented family-based model targeting individual, family and social systems. For each model, we describe the treatment background and/or its empirical support, its theoretical underpinnings, its goals and proposed treatment mechanism and the structure and content of each treatment. Procedures used for maintaining treatment fidelity and monitoring quality assurance are also described. These interventions represent the first readily available, manual-guided interventions to be evaluated in a large randomized field study for this population. Consequently, these manuals have the potential to advance treatment and research for adolescents with substance use disorders.

Implementation research: a synthesis of the literature.

Abstract: In the past few years several major reports highlighted the gap between our knowledge of effective treatments and services currently being received by consumers. These reports agree that we know much about interventions that are effective but make little use of them to help achieve important behavioral health outcomes for children families and adults nationally. This theme is repeated in reports by the Surgeon General (United States Department of Health and Human Services 1999; 2001) the National Institute of Mental Health [NIMH] National Advisory Mental Health Council Workgroup on Child and Adolescent Mental Health Intervention Development and Deployment (2001) Bernfeld Farrington & Leschied (2001) Institute of Medicine (2001) and the Presidents New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (2003). The authors call for applied research to better understand service delivery processes and contextual factors to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of program implementation at local state and national levels. Our understanding of how to develop and evaluate evidence-based intervention programs has been furthered by on-going efforts to research and refine programs and practices to define "evidence bases" and to designate and catalogue "evidence-based programs or practices". However the factors involved in successful implementation of these programs are not as well understood. Current views of implementation are based on the scholarly foundations prepared by Pressman & Wildavskys (1973) study of policy implementation Havelock & Havelocks (1973) classic curriculum for training change agents and Rogers (1983; 1995) series of analyses of factors influencing decisions to choose a given innovation. These foundations were tested and further informed by the experience base generated by pioneering attempts to implement Fairweather Lodges and National Follow-Through education models among others. Petersilia (1990) concluded that "The ideas embodied in innovative social programs are not self-executing." Instead what is needed is an "implementation perspective on innovation--an approach that views postadoption events as crucial and focuses on the actions of those who convert it into practice as the key to success or failure". (excerpt)

Age of onset of mental disorders: a review of recent literature

Abstract: Purpose of reviewThe aim of this article is to review recent epidemiological research on age-of-onset of mental disorders, focusing on the WHO World Mental Health surveys.Recent findingsMedian and inter-quartile range (IQR; 25th–75th percentiles) of age-of-onset is much earlier for phobias (7–14, IQ

The epidemiology of depression across cultures

Abstract: Epidemiological data are reviewed on the prevalence, course, socio-demographic correlates, and societal costs of major depression throughout the world. Major depression is estimated in these surveys to be a commonly occurring disorder. Although estimates of lifetime prevalence and course vary substantially across countries for reasons that could involve both substantive and methodological processes, the cross-national data are clear in documenting meaningful lifetime prevalence with wide variation in age-of-onset and high risk of lifelong chronic-recurrent persistence. A number of sociodemographic correlates of major depression are found consistently across countries, and cross-national data also document associations with numerous adverse outcomes, including difficulties in role transitions (e.g., low education, high teen childbearing, marital disruption, unstable employment), reduced role functioning (e.g., low marital quality, low work performance, low earnings), elevated risk of onset, persistence and...

Cross-national epidemiology of DSM-IV major depressive episode

Abstract: Major depression is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide, yet epidemiologic data are not available for many countries, particularly low- to middle-income countries. In this paper, we present data on the prevalence, impairment and demographic correlates of depression from 18 high and low- to middle-income countries in the World Mental Health Survey Initiative. Major depressive episodes (MDE) as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DMS-IV) were evaluated in face-to-face interviews using the World Health Organization Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Data from 18 countries were analyzed in this report (n = 89,037). All countries surveyed representative, population-based samples of adults. The average lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates of DSM-IV MDE were 14.6% and 5.5% in the ten high-income and 11.1% and 5.9% in the eight low- to middle-income countries. The average age of onset ascertained retrospectively was 25.7 in the high-income and 24.0 in low- to middle-income countries. Functional impairment was associated with recency of MDE. The female: male ratio was about 2:1. In high-income countries, younger age was associated with higher 12-month prevalence; by contrast, in several low- to middle-income countries, older age was associated with greater likelihood of MDE. The strongest demographic correlate in high-income countries was being separated from a partner, and in low- to middle-income countries, was being divorced or widowed. MDE is a significant public-health concern across all regions of the world and is strongly linked to social conditions. Future research is needed to investigate the combination of demographic risk factors that are most strongly associated with MDE in the specific countries included in the WMH.