Psychological intervention

About: Psychological intervention is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 82654 publications have been published within this topic receiving 2608356 citations.

Postpartum depression: what we know

Abstract: Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious mental health problem. It is prevalent, and offspring are at risk for disturbances in development. Major risk factors include past depression, stressful life events, poor marital relationship, and social support. Public health efforts to detect PPD have been increasing. Standard treatments (e.g., Interpersonal Psychotherapy) and more tailored treatments have been found effective for PPD. Prevention efforts have been less consistently successful. Future research should include studies of epidemiological risk factors and prevalence, interventions aimed at the parenting of PPD mothers, specific diathesis for a subset of PPD, effectiveness trials of psychological interventions, and prevention interventions aimed at addressing mental health issues in pregnant women.

Efficacy of an HIV Prevention Intervention for African American Adolescent Girls

Abstract: African American adolescent girls are at high risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection but interventions specifically designed for this population have not reduced HIV risk behaviors. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of an intervention to reduce sexual risk behaviors sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and pregnancy and enhance mediators of HIV preventive behaviors. an interview demonstrated condom application skills and provided specimens for STD testing. Outcome assessments were made at 6- and 12-month follow-up. All participants received four 4-hour group sessions. The intervention emphasized ethnic and gender pride HIV knowledge communication condom use skills and healthy relationships. The comparison condition emphasized exercise and nutrition. The primary outcome measure was consistent condom use defined as condom use during every episode of vaginal intercourse; other outcome measures were sexual behaviors observed condom application skills incident STD infection self-reported pregnancy and mediators of HIV-preventive behaviors. Relative to the comparison condition participants in the intervention reported using condoms more consistently in the 30 days preceding the 6-month assessment (unadjusted analysis intervention 75.3% vs comparison 58.2%) and the 12-month assessment (unadjusted analysis intervention 73.3% vs comparison 56.5%) and over the entire 12-month period (adjusted odds ratio 2.01; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28-3.17; P = .003). Participants in the intervention reported using condoms more consistently in the 6 months preceding the 6-month assessment (unadjusted analysis intervention 61.3% vs comparison 42.6%) at the 12-month assessment (unadjusted analysis intervention 58.1% vs comparison 45.3%) and over the entire 12-month period (adjusted odds ratio 2.30; 95% CI 1.51-3.50; P<.001). Using generalized estimating equation analyses over the 12-month follow-up adolescents in the intervention were more likely to use a condom at last intercourse less likely to have a new vaginal sex partner in the past 30 days and more likely to apply condoms to sex partners and had better condom application skills a higher percentage of condom-protected sex acts fewer unprotected vaginal sex acts and higher scores on measures of mediators. Promising effects were also observed for chlamydia infections and self-reported pregnancy. Interventions for African American adolescent girls that are gender-tailored and culturally congruent can enhance HIV-preventive behaviors skills and mediators and may reduce pregnancy and chlamydia infection. (authors)

Co-Occurring Mental and Substance Use Disorders: The Neurobiological Effects of Chronic Stress

Abstract: The high rate of co-occurrence of substance use disorders and other psychiatric disorders is well established. The population of people with co-occurring disorders is heterogeneous, and the prevalence of comorbidity differs by diagnostic group. One of the overarching issues in the area of comorbidity is the nature of the connection between psychiatric disorders and substance use disorders. The rapid development of technical advances in the neurosciences has led to a better understanding of the molecular biology, neurotransmitter systems, and neural circuitry involved in mental illness and substance use disorders. The authors discuss the neurobiological interface between substance use disorders and other psychiatric disorders with an emphasis on emerging data concerning four psychiatric disorders that commonly co-occur with substance use disorders: depression/mood disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and schizophrenia. Better understanding of the connection between substance use disorders and psychiatric disorders could have a profound effect on prevention and treatment.

Psychology of physical activity: Determinants, well-being and interventions (3rd Edition)

Abstract: Psychology of Physical Activity is a comprehensive account of our psychological knowledge about physical activity covering: motivation and the psychological factors associated with activity or inactivity; the feel-good factor: the psychological outcomes of exercising, including mental health illness and clinical populations; interventions and applied practice in the psychology of physical activity; current trends and future directions in research and practice. This textbook is essential for students of sport and exercise science, exercise physiology, health psychology, occupational therapy and physical education.

Interventions to enhance medication adherence.

Abstract: Background People who are prescribed self-administered medications typically take less than half the prescribed doses. Efforts to assist patients with adherence to medications might improve the benefits of prescribed medications, but also might increase their adverse effects. Objectives To update a review summarizing the results of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of interventions to help patients follow prescriptions for medications for medical problems, including mental disorders but not addictions. Search strategy Computerized searches were updated to September 2004 without language restriction in MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (IPA), PsycINFO and SOCIOFILE. We also reviewed bibliographies in articles on patient adherence and articles in our personal collections, and contacted authors of original and review articles on the topic. Selection criteria Articles were selected if they reported an unconfounded RCT of an intervention to improve adherence with prescribed medications, measuring both medication adherence and treatment outcome, with at least 80% follow-up of each group studied and, for long-term treatments, at least six months follow-up for studies with positive initial findings. Data collection and analysis Study design features, interventions and controls, and results were extracted by one reviewer and confirmed by at least one other reviewer. We extracted adherence rates and their measures of variance for all methods of measuring adherence in each study, and all outcome rates and their measures of variance for each study group, as well as levels of statistical significance for differences between study groups, consulting authors and verifying or correcting analyses as needed. Main results For short-term treatments, four of nine interventions reported in eight RCTs showed an effect on both adherence and at least one clinical outcome, while one intervention reported in one RCT significantly improved patient compliance, but did not enhance the clinical outcome. For long-term treatments, 26 of 58 interventions reported in 49 RCTs were associated with improvements in adherence, but only 18 interventions led to improvement in at least one treatment outcome. Almost all of the interventions that were effective for long-term care were complex, including combinations of more convenient care, information, reminders, self-monitoring, reinforcement, counseling, family therapy, psychological therapy, crisis intervention, manual telephone follow-up, and supportive care. Even the most effective interventions did not lead to large improvements in adherence and treatment outcomes. Six studies showed that telling patients about adverse effects of treatment did not affect their adherence. Authors' conclusions Improving short-term adherence is relatively successful with a variety of simple interventions. Current methods of improving adherence for chronic health problems are mostly complex and not very effective, so that the full benefits of treatment cannot be realized. High priority should be given to fundamental and applied research concerning innovations to assist patients to follow medication prescriptions for long-term medical disorders.