What do the PHQ-9, the GAD-7 and their variants miss in assessing young people presenting to youth mental health services?

Brief self-report measures offer significant benefits in youth mental health services by providing quick, efficient, and accessible assessment of mental health status. In this study, we describe the psychometric features of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and their shorter variants in 1063 young people at their first appointment to headspace youth primary care mental health services. Specific aims were to: (i) document the internal consistency, dimensionality, and measurement invariance for sex and age (12-14, 15-17, 18-21, 22-25 years) for the PHQ-9 and GAD-7; (ii) compare the full and shorter variants of the measures; and (iii) determine construct validity by correlating variants with measures of psychological distress, rumination, functioning, and quality of life.

Estimating the longitudinal association between pain characteristics and clinical outcomes in young people with mental ill-health.

Background: Mental ill-health has a major impact on young people, with pain often co-occurring. We estimated the prevalence and impact of pain in young people with mental ill-health.

Methods: Longitudinal data (baseline and three-month follow-up) of 1,107 Australian young people (aged 12-25 years) attending one of five youth mental health services.

Using data linkage for mental health research in Australia.

Data linkage is a powerful tool for understanding the multifaceted needs and priorities of mental health care from the perspective of users and providers. Its potential remains underutilised in Australian settings - the Productivity Commission Inquiry into Mental Health in 2020 highlighted a significant gap: routinely collected administrative data are seldom leveraged in mental health research and service evaluation. In this manuscript, we provide insights into how data linkage has been used in mental health research, the type of questions that can be addressed, the steps involved in conducting data linkage research and the benefits and limitations of the use of this methodology.

The role of schemas in the experience of distress, burden, and wellbeing in parents and siblings of people with serious mental health difficulties.

Background: Caregivers of people with serious mental health difficulties (SMHD), such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, face various psychological challenges. It is unclear if the mechanisms underlying these challenges differ between different groups of caregivers. This study examined whether the relationship between maladaptive schemas and distress, burden, and reduced wellbeing differed between parents and siblings of people with SMHD.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of family-based interventions for early psychosis: Carer and patient outcomes.

Background: Previous reviews have indicated that family interventions in early psychosis are beneficial for patients and family caregivers. Given recent developments in research and service provision an updated review is warranted.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of family intervention trials in the first 5 years after psychosis onset.

Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Risk Factors of Violence During First-Episode Psychosis.

Most people with a psychotic illness will never be violent; however, it is widely known that violence is more prevalent in this group compared to the general community, particularly during first-episode psychosis (FEP). Despite this, there is limited research into what contributes to this increased risk during FEP. The present systematic review aimed to identify whether certain risk factors are differentially associated with severity and timing of violence perpetration during FEP.

Emotion Processing and Its Relationship to Social Functioning and Symptoms in Psychotic Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Background: Emotion processing (EP) is impaired in individuals with psychosis and associated with social functioning; however, it is unclear how symptoms fit into this relationship. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to examine interrelationships between EP, symptoms, and social functioning, test whether different symptom domains mediate the relationship between EP and social functioning, and examine the moderating effects of illness stage and EP task type.

Study Design: MEDLINE, Embase, and PsycINFO databases were searched for studies that included individuals with psychosis and reported correlations between EP, symptom domains (positive, negative, depressive, and disorganization), and social functioning.

Early Maladaptive Schemas and Depression in Caregivers of Individuals With Schizophrenia Spectrum and Bipolar Disorders.

Objectives: Early maladaptive schemas represent unhelpful frameworks of cognitions, emotions and subsequent behavioural responses and can be associated with depressive symptoms. Caregivers of individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) frequently report experiencing depressive symptoms. It is unclear whether depressive symptoms in caregivers are influenced by schemas.

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis: Rates of Violence During First-Episode Psychosis (FEP).

Background: Most people with psychotic disorders will never commit an act of violence. However, the risk of violence committed by people with schizophrenia is higher than the general population. Violence risk is also known to be highest during the first episode of psychosis compared to later stages of illness.

Digital technology for addressing cognitive impairment in recent-onset psychosis: A perspective.

Cognitive impairments in psychosis negatively impact functional recovery and quality of life. Existing interventions for improving cognitive impairment in recent-onset psychosis show inconsistent treatment efficacy, small effects, suboptimal engagement and limited generalizability to daily life functioning. In this perspective we explore how digital technology has the potential to address these limitations in order to improve cognitive and functional outcomes in recent-onset psychosis.

Psychometric properties of a brief, self-report measure of social inclusion: the F-SIM16.

Aims: A disproportionate number of people with mental ill-health experience social exclusion. Appropriate measurement tools are required to progress opportunities to improve social inclusion. We have developed a novel measure, the Filia Social Inclusion Measure (F-SIM).

A protocol for the first episode psychosis outcome study (FEPOS): ≥15 year follow-up after treatment at the Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

Background: Specialist early intervention (SEI) service models are designed to treat symptoms, promote social and vocational recovery, prevent relapse, and resource and up-skill patients and their families. The benefits of SEI over the first few years have been demonstrated. While early recovery can be expected to translate to better long-term outcomes by analogy with other illnesses, there is limited evidence to support this from follow-up studies.

Rates, types and associations of sexual risk behaviours and sexually transmitted infections in those with severe mental illness: a scoping review.

The aim of this scoping review was to: (i) determine rates and types of sexual risk behaviours and sexually-transmitted infections (STIs) in those with severe mental illness (SMI); and (ii) delineate correlates of poor sexual health outcome. The online databases OVID MedLine and PsycINFO were searched from databases inception to February 2018 for any literature with a focus on sexual risk behaviours (inconsistent condom use, multiple sexual partners, substance use and transactional sexual acts) or STIs in SMI populations. Fourteen studies were identified; the quality of these studies ranged from poor to moderate.

Automated and manual hippocampal segmentation techniques: Comparison of results, reproducibility and clinical applicability.

Background: Imaging techniques used to measure hippocampal atrophy are key to understanding the clinical progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Various semi-automated hippocampal segmentation techniques are available and require human expert input to learn how to accurately segment new data. Our goal was to compare 1) the performance of our automated hippocampal segmentation technique relative to manual segmentations, and 2) the performance of our automated technique when provided with a training set from two different raters.