Psychological intervention

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

Effectiveness of school-based interventions in Europe to promote healthy nutrition in children and adolescents: systematic review of published and ‘grey’ literature

Abstract: The objective of the present review was to summarise the existing European published and 'grey' literature on the effectiveness of school-based interventions to promote a healthy diet in children (6-12 years old) and adolescents (13-18 years old). Eight electronic databases, websites and contents of key journals were systematically searched, reference lists were screened, and authors and experts in the field were contacted for studies evaluating school-based interventions promoting a healthy diet and aiming at primary prevention of obesity. The studies were included if they were published between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 2007 and reported effects on dietary behaviour or on anthropometrics. Finally, forty-two studies met the inclusion criteria: twenty-nine in children and thirteen in adolescents. In children, strong evidence of effect was found for multicomponent interventions on fruit and vegetable intakes. Limited evidence of effect was found for educational interventions on behaviour, and for environmental interventions on fruit and vegetable intakes. Interventions that specifically targeted children from lower socio-economic status groups showed limited evidence of effect on behaviour. In adolescents, moderate evidence of effect was found for educational interventions on behaviour and limited evidence of effect for multicomponent programmes on behaviour. In children and adolescents, effects on anthropometrics were often not measured, and therefore evidence was lacking or delivered inconclusive evidence. To conclude, evidence was found for the effectiveness of especially multicomponent interventions promoting a healthy diet in school-aged children in European Union countries on self-reported dietary behaviour. Evidence for effectiveness on anthropometrical obesity-related measures is lacking.

Stress in UK families conducting intensive home-based behavioral intervention for their young child with autism

Abstract: There is increasing international interest in intensive home-based behavioral intervention for children with autism. In the present study, 141 UK parents conducting such interventions completed a questionnaire addressing issues of stress, coping, and support. Regression analyses showed that parents' stress levels were predicted mainly by psychological rather than demographic variables. In particular, adaptive coping strategies, informal social support sources, and beliefs about the efficacy of the intervention were associated with lower reported stress and higher levels of autism symptomatology were associated with higher reported stress. There was also evidence that the use of Passive Appraisal coping and beliefs about the efficacy of the interventions moderated the effects of autism symptomatology on parents' pessimism. Implications of these findings for future research and for the support of families engaged in intensive home-based behavioral intervention are discussed.

Do interventions designed to support shared decision-making reduce health inequalities? A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract: Background: Increasing patient engagement in healthcare has become a health policy priority. However, there has been concern that promoting supported shared decision-making could increase health inequalities. Objective: To evaluate the impact of SDM interventions on disadvantaged groups and health inequalities. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials and observational studies. Data Sources: CINAHL, the Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, EMBASE, HMIC, MEDLINE, the NHS Economic Evaluation Database, Open SIGLE, PsycINFO and Web of Knowledge were searched from inception until June 2012. Study Eligibility Criteria: We included all studies, without language restriction, that met the following two criteria: (1) assess the effect of shared decision-making interventions on disadvantaged groups and/or health inequalities, (2) include at least 50% of people from disadvantaged groups, except if a separate analysis was conducted for this group. Results: We included 19 studies and pooled 10 in a meta-analysis. The meta-analyses showed a moderate positive effect of shared decision-making interventions on disadvantaged patients. The narrative synthesis suggested that, overall, SDM interventions increased knowledge, informed choice, participation in decision-making, decision self-efficacy, preference for collaborative decision making and reduced decisional conflict among disadvantaged patients. Further, 7 out of 19 studies compared the intervention's effect between high and low literacy groups. Overall, SDM interventions seemed to benefit disadvantaged groups (e.g. lower literacy) more than those with higher literacy, education and socioeconomic status. Interventions that were tailored to disadvantaged groups' needs appeared most effective. Conclusion: Results indicate that shared decision-making interventions significantly improve outcomes for disadvantaged patients. According to the narrative synthesis, SDM interventions may be more beneficial to disadvantaged groups than higher literacy/socioeconomic status patients. However, given the small sample sizes and variety in the intervention types, study design and quality, those findings should be interpreted with caution.

Behavioral Couples Therapy for alcoholism and drug abuse: Where we've been, where we are, and where we're going

Abstract: Among the various types of couple and family therapies used to treat substance abuse, Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT) has the strongest empirical support for its effectiveness. During the last 3 decades, multiple studies have consistently found participation in BCT by married or cohabiting substance-abusing patients results in significant reductions in substance use, decreased problems related to substance use (e.g., job loss, hospitalization), and improved relationship satisfaction. Recently, investigations exploring other outcomes have found that, compared to traditional individual-based treatments, participation in BCT results in significantly (a) higher reductions in partner violence, (b) greater improvements in psychosocial functioning of children who live with parents who receive the intervention, and (c) better cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness. In addition to providing an overview of the theoretical underpinnings of BCT, methods used with this intervention, and the literature supporting its use, this article also examines the future directions of BCT research for substance abuse. Keywords: couples therapy; drug abuse; alcoholism; intimate partner violence Although alcoholism and drug abuse have been historically viewed as individual problems best treated on an individual basis (e.g., Jellinek, 1960), there has been a growing recognition over the last 3 decades that the family often plays a crucial role in the etiology and maintenance of substance misuse. In turn, increased emphasis has gradually been placed on treating the family, as either a primary or ancillary intervention, to reduce or eliminate abusive drinking or drug use, with the substance-abusing patient's behavior conceptualized and understood as occurring within a family system. In a special report given to the U.S. Congress in the early 1970s, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism described couple and family therapy as "one of the most outstanding current advances in the area of psychotherapy of alcoholism" and called for controlled studies to test the effectiveness of these promising methods (Keller, 1974, p. 161). Since that time, the call to examine family-based treatment approaches for substance abuse has been answered by many different research groups; initially with small-scale studies and, as evidence of effectiveness accumulated, followed by large-scale randomized clinical trials. Taken as a whole, the results of the investigations indicate that the early promise of family treatment for alcoholism and drug abuse has, to a large degree, been realized. As a case in point, meta-analytic reviews of randomized clinical trials have concluded that, compared to individual-based interventions that focus exclusively on the substance-abusing patient, familyinvolved treatments result in higher levels of abstinence, for both alcoholism (O'Farrell & Fals-Stewart, 2001) and drug abuse (Stanton & Shadish, 1997). Although many different types of couple- and family-based interventions are available and have been used with alcoholic and drug-abusing patients, Behavioral Couples Therapy (BCT) has, to date, the strongest empirical support for its effectiveness (O'Farrell & Fals-Stewart, 2003). In this review, we provide a brief discussion of (a) the theoretical rationale for the use and effectiveness of BCT with substance-abusing patients, (b) typical treatment methods used as part of the BCT intervention with substance-abusing patients and their partners, (c) past and ongoing research findings supporting the effectiveness of BCT in terms of the targeted primary outcome domains (i.e., substance use and dyadic adjustment), and (d) the results of recently completed investigations exploring the effects of BCT on secondary outcomes (i.e., outcomes not primarily targeted by BCT, but deemed to be of considerable importance, such as intimate partner violence, children's emotional and behavioral functioning, and cost outcomes, such as cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness). …