What works in peer support for breast cancer survivors: A qualitative systematic review and meta-ethnography.

Breast cancer is associated with adverse physical and psychological consequences. Although research has identified the various benefits linked to psychosocial interventions, mixed results have been found in relation to peer support. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-ethnography is to explore the qualitative evidence on the experience of breast cancer survivors in peer support. A systematic search of the literature was conducted until June 2023, and a meta-ethnographic approach was used to synthesize the included papers. Eleven articles were included, collecting the experience of 345 participants. The following four core areas involved in peer support implementation were identified from the synthesis: Peer support can create understanding and a mutual therapeutic and emotional connection; peer support can facilitate an educational and supportive patient-centered journey; peer support should monitor group members for unpleasant emotional experiences; peer support should have professional supervision of recruitment and training to prioritize quality. These results can be used as patient-centered insights by healthcare professionals to provide evidence-informed peer support programs and address current limitations in the field.

An eHealth ecosystem for stepped and early psychosocial care in advanced lung cancer: Rationale and protocol for a randomized control trial.

Background: Receiving a diagnosis of lung cancer is an emotional event, not least because it is usually diagnosed at advanced stages with limited life expectancy. Although evidence-based educational, emotional, and social interventions exist, they reach few patients and usually when it is too late. Objective: This project will be carried out in a comprehensive center for cancer care and health research, aiming to study the efficacy, costs, and utility of an eHealth ecosystem to meet the psychosocial needs of patients with advanced lung cancer. Method: We will enroll 76 patients with advanced lung cancer into an eHealth ecosystem of stepped and personalized psychosocial care for 9 months. These patients will be compared with another 76 receiving usual care in a non-inferiority randomized controlled trial. The following main outcomes will be measured every 3 months: emotional distress, spirituality, demoralization, quality of life, and medication adherence. Secondary outcomes will include symptomatology, health education, cost-utility analyses, usability and satisfaction with the platform, and time to detect emotional needs and provide care. Baseline differences between groups will be measured with the Student t-test or chi-square test, as appropriate. We will then compare the main outcomes between groups over time using multilevel linear models, report effect sizes (Hedges' g), and assess non-inferiority. The cost-utility of both interventions will be considered in terms of quality adjusted life years and quality of life given the costs of providing each treatment. Discussion: This randomized controlled trial should provide new evidence on the efficacy and cost-utility of an eHealth ecosystem to deliver personalized and timely psychosocial care to patients with advanced lung cancer. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID "NCT05497973".

The effect of two cognitive therapies on subjective wellbeing of individuals with depression: results from a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Despite the burden associated to depression, current standards of care are still limited in scope and effectiveness. In addition, therapy outcomes have frequently focused solely on symptoms, leaving patients' wellbeing relatively unaddressed. AIMS: The objective of this study was to test whether two cognitive therapies increased subjective wellbeing in a sample of adults diagnosed with a depressive disorder, additionally assessing the relationship between this growth and decreases in both depression severity and psychological distress. METHODS: Data from 116 participants from a randomised controlled trial comparing the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy and dilemma-focused therapy were analysed. Multilevel linear models were employed, together with correlational analyses. RESULTS: Results showed that both interventions significantly improved wellbeing with moderate to large effect sizes, while no significant differences were found between treatments. In turn, the increase in wellbeing was significantly associated to improvements in depression severity and psychological distress. CONCLUSIONS: This study sheds light on the complex relationship between happiness and depression, supporting their conceptualisation as related yet independent human experiences, and strengthening subjective wellbeing as a useful outcome for psychological research. Psychotherapy is presented as an effective intervention to enhance wellbeing, even among individuals with severe depressive symptoms.

A Digital Cancer Ecosystem to Deliver Health and Psychosocial Education as Preventive Intervention.

Health education and psychosocial interventions prevent emotional distress, and the latter has been shown to have an impact on survival. In turn, digital health education interventions may help promote equity by reaching a higher number of cancer patients, both because they avoid journeys to the hospital, by and having a better efficiency. A total of 234 women recently diagnosed with breast cancer in a comprehensive cancer center used the digital ecosystem ICOnnecta't from March 2019 to March 2021. ICOnnecta't consists of four care levels, provided to patients according to their level of distress. The second level of this intervention consists of an educational campus, which was analyzed to track users' interests and their information-seeking behavior. Overall, 99 out of 234 women (42.3%) used the educational campus. There were no significant differences in sociodemographic and clinical variables between the campus users and non-users. Among users, the median number of resources utilized per user was four (interquartile range: 2−9). Emotional and medical resources were the contents most frequently viewed and the audiovisual format the most consulted (p < 0.01). Resources were used mainly within the first three months from enrolment. Users who were guided to visit the virtual campus were more active than spontaneous users. Offering an early holistic health educational platform inside a digital cancer ecosystem, with health professionals involved, can reach more patients, promoting equity in the access of cancer information and prevention, from the very beginning of the disease.

ICOnnecta't: Development and Initial Results of a Stepped Psychosocial eHealth Ecosystem to Facilitate Risk Assessment and Prevention of Early Emotional Distress in Breast Cancer Survivors' Journey.

Psychosocial interventions prevent emotional distress and facilitate adaptation in breast cancer (BC). However, conventional care presents accessibility barriers that eHealth has the potential to overcome. ICOnnecta't is a stepped digital ecosystem designed to build wellbeing and reduce psychosocial risks during the cancer journey through a European-funded project. Women recently diagnosed with BC in a comprehensive cancer center were offered the ecosystem. ICOnnecta't consists of four care levels, provided according to users' distress: screening and monitoring, psychoeducation campus, peer-support community, and online-group psychotherapy. Descriptive analyses were conducted to assess the platform's implementation, while multilevel linear models were used to study users' psychosocial course after diagnosis. ICOnnecta't showed acceptance, use and attrition rates of 57.62, 74.60, and 29.66%, respectively. Up to 76.19% of users reported being satisfied with the platform and 75.95% informed that it was easy to use. A total of 443 patients' needs were detected and responsively managed, leading 94.33% of users to remain in the preventive steps. In general, strong social support led to a better psychosocial course. ICOnnecta't has been successfully implemented. The results showed that it supported the development of a digital relation with healthcare services and opened new early support pathways.

Does virtual reality increase the efficacy of psychotherapy for young adults with mild-to-moderate depression? A study protocol for a multicenter randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: The improvement of psychological treatments for depression in young adults is a pressing issue highlighted in the literature. Its relevance is determined not only because young adults are underrepresented in research, but also to prevent chronic severe mental health disorders later in life. Engagement is considered a key factor for a good therapeutic outcome, especially among young patients. In this sense, virtual reality could be particularly suited to engage young adults in the therapy process. This project aims to improve the psychological treatment of mild-to-moderate depression in young adults by testing out the efficacy of virtual reality-enhanced personal construct therapy (PCT-VR), as compared to personal construct therapy alone (PCT) and to the reference standard cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). In contrast to CBT, PCT neither educates patients about depression nor gives them directions on the changes to be made in their dysfunctional behaviors or cognitions. Rather, PCT explores the coherence (or conflicts) of thoughts and behaviors with respect to the person's sense of identity and focuses on meaning-making processes. METHODS: The efficacy of this innovative intervention (PCT-VR) will be compared to PCT and to CBT in a randomized clinical trial. The study includes an appraisal of therapists' adherence and independent assessments to preserve internal validity. The Beck Depression Inventory-II is the primary outcome measure for calculating both statistical and clinical significance, but other outcomes will also be assessed (e.g., functioning, well-being, anxiety, stress) at pre- and post-therapy and at 6-month follow-up. The trial will be conducted in a naturalistic context, mostly at the usual health care center of each patient. A sample of 225 participants is targeted to reach enough statistical power to accomplish the goals of the study. DISCUSSION: We expect that providing evidence for PCT-VR will widen the repertoire of evidence-based technology-based psychotherapeutic interventions for young adults and contribute to the prevention of deteriorating courses of the disorder. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04321525 . Registered on 18 February 2020.

Personal Construct Therapy vs Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in the Treatment of Depression in Women with Fibromyalgia: Study Protocol for a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a debilitating syndrome, more prevalent in women, which is aggravated by the presence of depressive symptoms. In the last decade, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has demonstrated to reduce such depressive symptoms and pain in these patients, but there are still a considerable number of them who do not respond to interventions. The complexity of the disorder requires the consideration of the unique psychological characteristics of each patient to attain good outcomes. One approach that could accomplish this goal might be personal construct therapy (PCT), an idiographic approach that considers identity features and interpersonal meanings as their main target of intervention. Then, the aim of the study is to test the efficacy of PCT as compared to a well-established treatment in the reduction of depressive symptoms in women with fibromyalgia. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: This is a multicenter randomized controlled trial. In each condition participants will attend up to eighteen 1-hr weekly therapy sessions and up to three 1-hr booster sessions during the following 3-5 months after the end of treatment. The depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) will be the primary outcome measure and it will be assessed at baseline, at the end of therapy, and at 6-month follow-up. Other secondary measures will be applied following the same schedule. Participants will be 18- to 70-years-old women with a diagnosis of FM, presenting depressive symptoms evinced by scores above seven in depression items of the HADS-D. Intention-to-treat and complete case analyses will be performed for the main statistical tests. Linear mixed models will be used to analyze and to compare the treatment effects of both conditions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02711020.

European clinical practice guidelines for depression in adults: Are they good enough?

BACKGROUND: Despite the increasing attention given to evidence-based practice, little research has focused on the quality of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) involving psychotherapy. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the quality of national CPGs for psychological treatments for depression in European countries. METHODS: A search of the Guidelines International Network's library was conducted. Four guidelines met inclusion criteria for the study and were assessed using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE-II) platform. RESULTS: Overall, the guidelines included in the study were found to be of good quality, although two guidelines received low scores for applicability, and some did not provide information on competing interests or potential influences from funding bodies. LIMITATIONS: Although guidelines were retrieved from a well-known international library, some European guidelines for depression published elsewhere may have been overlooked. CONCLUSIONS: Results of this study provide support for the high quality of the guidelines reviewed, but also raise some concerns regarding editorial independence and the applicability of the guidelines, areas that should be the focus of improvement in future versions of these guidelines.

One-year follow-up of a randomized trial with a dilemma-focused intervention for depression: Exploring an alternative to problem-oriented strategies.

BACKGROUND: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is aimed to counteract cognitions and behaviours that are considered as dysfunctional. The aim of the study is to test whether the inclusion of a non-counteractive approach (dilemma-focused intervention, DFI) in combination with CBT group therapy will yield better short- and long-term outcomes than an intervention conducted entirely using CBT. METHOD: A total of 128 patients with depression and at least one cognitive conflict, of six health community centres in Barcelona, participated from November of 2011 to December of 2014 in seven weekly group CBT sessions and were then randomly allocated to either DFI or CBT (eight individual sessions each) by an independent researcher. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory-II at baseline, at the end of therapy and three- and twelve-month follow-ups. Therapists did not participate in any of the assessments nor in the randomisation of patients and evaluators were masked to group assignment. Both intention to treat and complete case analyses were performed using linear mixed models with random effects. FINDINGS: According to intention-to-treat analysis (F2, 179 = 0.69) and complete case analysis (F2, 146 = 0.88), both conditions similarly reduced the severity of symptoms across posttreatment assessments. For the 77 participants (CBTgroup +CBTindividual = 40; CBTgroup+DFIindividual = 37) that completed allocated treatment and one-year follow-up assessment, response and remission rates were relative higher for the DFI condition, however no significant differences were found between treatment conditions. The relapse rates were similar between treatment conditions (CBTgroup +CBTindividual = 7/20; CBTgroup+DFIindividual = 8/22). INTERPRETATION: Although using a counteractive approach across all the treatment sessions is quite effective, it does not seem to be necessary to produce significant improvement. DFI may be considered as an alternative, which could be included in a wider treatment for depression. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov; ID: NCT01542957.

Adaptation and psychometric properties of the spanish version of the yp-core (Young Person's Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation).

INTRODUCTION: Given the increasing prevalence of mental health problems in the general population, it is indispensable to use assessment tools aimed to assess the outcome of therapeutic interventions in order to refine the process of psychological rehabilitation. METHOD: We describe the process of adaptation into Spanish and a first psychometric study of the Young Person's- Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (YP-CORE), an instrument designed to measure the outcome in terms of general distress of therapeutic interventions in young people (11-16 years). 104 adolescents participated in the clinical and 131 in the non-clinical samples. RESULTS: Analyses showed good levels of acceptability, adequate internal consistency and acceptable test-retest stability, with moderately high correlations between administrations. In addition, the instrument yielded significant correlations with all dimensions of the Youth Self Report, the highest being between both total scores. Crucially, discriminated between clinical and non-clinical samples and showed a small effect of age but a larger effect of gender, with higher scores for females. The Principal Component Analysis replicates the original structure. Cut-off scores to calculate the reliable and clinically significant change are provided. CONCLUSIONS: These results support initial use of the instrument though there are certain limitations that indicate the need for more research with larger and more representative samples, in which the psychometric properties of the instrument should be verified.

Adaptación y propiedades psicométricas de la versión española del yp-core (Young Person's Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation) / Adaptation and psychometric properties of the spanish version of the yp-core (Young Person's Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation)

Introducción. Ante la creciente prevalencia de problemas de salud mental en la población general, resulta imprescindible el uso de instrumentos de evaluación destinados a evaluar el resultado de las intervenciones terapéuticas, con el fin de facilitar el proceso de rehabilitación psicológica. Metodología. Se expone el proceso de adaptación al español y un primer estudio psicométrico del Young Person's Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (YP-CORE), un instrumento diseñado para medir el resultado de las intervenciones terapéuticas a través de la evaluación del malestar general en población infanto-juvenil (11-16 años). Para ello, se ha tenido en cuenta una muestra clínica de 104 participantes y otra no clínica de 131. Resultados. Los análisis han demostrado una buena aceptabilidad, una consistencia interna adecuada, así como una estabilidad test-retest aceptable, con correlaciones moderadamente elevadas. Además, el instrumento ha reflejado correlaciones significativas con todas las dimensiones del Youth Self Report, siendo las más elevadas entre ambas puntuaciones totales. También resulta útil a la hora de discriminar entre la población clínica y no clínica, mostrando poca influencia de la edad, pero sí del sexo, con puntuaciones más elevadas en el género femenino. El Análisis de Componentes Principales replica la estructura original. También se proporcionan los puntos de corte que servirán para calcular el cambio fiable y clínicamente significativo. Conclusiones. Los resultados expuestos permiten hacer un uso fiable del instrumento, aunque se mencionan ciertas limitaciones que sugieren la necesidad de realizar investigaciones con muestras mayores y más representativas, en las cuales se verifiquen las propiedades psicométricas del instrumento

Introduction. Given the increasing prevalence of mental health problems in the general population, it is indispensable to use assessment tools aimed to assess the outcome of therapeutic interventions in order to refine the process of psychological rehabilitation. Method. We describe the process of adaptation into Spanish and a first psychometric study of the Young Person's-Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation (YP-CORE), an instrument designed to measure the outcome in terms of general distress of therapeutic interventions in young people (11-16 years). 104 adolescents participated in the clinical and 131 in the non-clinical samples. Results. Analyses showed good levels of acceptability, adequate internal consistency and acceptable test-retest stability, with moderately high correlations between administrations. In addition, the instrument yielded significant correlations with all dimensions of the Youth Self Report, the highest being between both total scores. Crucially, discriminated between clinical and non-clinical samples and showed a small effect of age but a larger effect of gender, with higher scores for females. The Principal Component Analysis replicates the original structure. Cut-off scores to calculate the reliable and clinically significant change are provided. Conclusions. These results support initial use of the instrument though there are certain limitations that indicate the need for more research with larger and more represen tative samples, in which the psychometric properties of the instrument should be verified

A DILEMMA-FOCUSED INTERVENTION FOR DEPRESSION: A MULTICENTER, RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL WITH A 3-MONTH FOLLOW-UP.

BACKGROUND: Since long ago it has been asserted that internal conflicts are relevant to the understanding and treatment of mental disorders, but little research has been conducted to support the claim. The aim of this study was to test the differential efficacy of group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) plus an intervention focused on the dilemma(s) detected for each patient versus group individual CBT plus individual CBT for treating depression. A comparative controlled trial with a 3-month follow-up was conducted. METHODS: One hundred twenty-eight adults meeting criteria for MDD and/or dysthymia, presenting at least one cognitive conflict (implicative dilemma or dilemmatic construct, assessed by the repertory grid technique) and who had completed seven sessions of group CBT were randomly assigned to eight sessions of individual manualized CBT or dilemma-focused therapy (DFT). The Beck Depression Inventory-II was administered at baseline, at the end of therapy and after 3 months' follow-up. RESULTS: Multilevel mixed effects modeling yielded no significant differences between CBT and DFT with the intention-to-treat sample. Equivalent effect sizes, remission, and response rates were found with completers as well. In combination with group CBT, both individual CBT and DFT significantly reduced depressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: Both conditions obtained comparable results to those in the literature. Thus, the superiority of the adjunctive DFT was not demonstrated. Working with dilemmas can be seen as a promising additional target in the psychotherapy of depression, but further research is still required.