The effectiveness of telepsychology with veterans: A meta-analysis of services delivered by videoconference and phone.

Veterans face a variety of stressors due to their military service and are more likely to develop psychological problems as a result. Research suggests that as many as half of veterans with mental health conditions go untreated due to barriers including lack of accessibility to services and stigma. The present study builds on previous research by using meta-analytic techniques to determine the effectiveness of telepsychology-delivered therapy with veterans. Empirical studies were included if they reported veteran-related outcome data on a psychological intervention used to treat a mental health condition remotely using either videoconferencing or telephone. Twenty-seven studies including 2,648 total participants (1,667 in treatment conditions and 981 in control conditions) met our inclusion criteria and were incorporated into our analysis. Twenty-five studies provided pre-post data to evaluate various therapy outcomes, and 18 studies used a randomized clinical trials (RCTs) design that allowed a comparison between telehealth and traditional in-person therapy. Publication bias was evaluated using correlations between sample and effect sizes for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression for pretest-posttest and RCT designs; risk was determined to be minimal. Weighted average pre-post effect sizes were moderate-to-strong for depression and trauma, and videoconferencing was more effective than telephone for depression (d = 0.86 and 0.46, respectively) and trauma (d = 1.00 and 0.51, respectively). Weighted average effect sizes computed from RCT studies suggest telepsychology is similarly effective as services provided face-to-face. More research is needed for telepsychology-delivered treatments for other mental health conditions faced by veterans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Improving Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Compliance Through Direct Physician Contact in a Military Treatment Facility: A Non-randomized Pilot Study.

INTRODUCTION: Screening for breast cancer (BC) and cervical cancer (CC) decreases morbidity and mortality. Most interventions to improve screening rely on automated modalities or nonphysician patient contact. There is limited data on direct patient contact by a physician to encourage BC and CC screening. This non-randomized pilot study sought to evaluate the potential of direct physician contact to improve BC and CC screening rates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A Family Medicine physician telephoned patients on his panel who were due or overdue for BC and CC screening. If the patient did not answer her phone, a voicemail was left; if unable to leave a voicemail, a letter was mailed. The completion rate of recommended screening tests was measured 3 months after contact and compared to a retrospectively identified control population. The change in compliance of the patient panel over 3 months was also calculated. RESULTS: Direct physician conversation by telephone yielded higher completion rates for BC and CC screening versus control patients, but only the CC completion rate increase was statistically significant. Direct conversation BC screening completion rate: 41.2% versus 22.7% (P = .22, n = 48). Direct conversation CC screening completion rate: 45% versus 13.9% (P = .01, n = 44). The intervention patient panel compliance with screening recommendations increased 20.5% for BC and 10.5% for CC. CONCLUSION: Direct physician contact may be beneficial to increase compliance for more invasive screening tests.

The effects of wearing a costume on charitable donations.

Although research has shown a general trend that people dressed in neat or professional clothes elicit more helping behavior from other people than when dressed in casual or sloppy clothes, no research has examined the effects of wearing a costume on helping behavior. In this experiment, confederates dressed either in a Santa suit or in street clothes as they volunteered for the Salvation Army as bell-ringers in front of retail stores. The hypothesis that donations would be greater while wearing the Santa suit was not supported by the data; the Santa suit and the street clothes elicited equal amounts of donations.

Characterization of human milk donors.

The primary objective of this research was to create a detailed characterization of human milk donors, including descriptive information about demographics and lifestyle, involvement with the milk bank, reasons for donating, problems encountered while breastfeeding and pumping milk, barriers to donating milk, affective experiences, and personal values. Data were collected via telephone interview of 87 donors and 19 nondonor controls. Few relationships were found between the descriptive information and amount of milk donated. Donors reported fewer problems pumping milk than nondonors. Strategies for recruiting new donors and strategies for increasing donation amounts are presented.