Guillermo Perez Algorta

Objective: Brief measures of depressive symptoms and family psychiatry history may support the identification of youth who warrant further assessment, but their interpretation requires population-based measurement evidence. This study evaluated the Very Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (VQIDS) and Family Index of Risk for Mood (FIRM) in the BENCHMARK 2025 national survey. Method: The sample consisted of 2,252 parent reports for children aged 6-18 years and 1,008 linked adolescent self-reports aged 12-18 years. Analyses examined VQIDS dimensionality, reliability, item functioning, age- and sex-based norms, and informant agreement, alongside FIRM score distributions, alternative scoring approaches, and associations with depressive symptoms. Results: VQIDS findings supported a single dimension and good internal consistency, with greatest IRT precision at elevated symptom levels and no practically meaningful differential item functioning across age or sex. Two-week stability was moderate, and parent-adolescent agreement was lower within more symptomatic subsets. FIRM totals showed stronger cross-informant agreement and retest stability. Family history scores were associated with higher VQIDS percentiles and discriminated scores at or above the 90 ^th percentile across informants (AUROC = .670-.698). FIRM’s associations were strongest with internalizing symptoms, although evidence was mixed for mood specificity. Conclusions: These findings provide a measurement and normative foundation for brief depressive symptom assessment and support family history as a complementary correlate of symptom elevation. Diagnostic and prospective prediction utility require further evaluation.

The significance of community mental health workers in coordinating hospital discharge of patients with diagnosed mental health conditions is globally recognised, yet research on their experiences is scarce. This study contributes to knowledge through a qualitative empirical intrinsic case study of community mental health workers' experiences. This study aimed to explore community mental health workers' experiences of care‐coordinating patients diagnosed with mental health conditions discharged from the hospital into community mental health integrated services. Guided by constructivist inquiry, the qualitative study focused on co‐constructing meaning to understand community mental health workers' experiences in care coordination. Two theoretical lenses informed the study: Ecological Systems Theory, to understand multi‐level influences, and Normalisation Process Theory, to explore how care coordination practices are embedded in discharge processes. Fourteen community mental health workers aged 18 and above were recruited from one NHS Trust in Northwest England from October 2021 to June 2022. Data were collected through semi‐structured interviews, audio‐recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using reflective thematic analysis, generating themes and subthemes. Analysis identified 13 subthemes grouped into four major themes: (1) Experiences of collaborative working; (2) Challenges and enablers to care coordination; (3) Experiences of organisational system and culture; and (4) Community Mental Health Workers' personal experiences of professional growth. Findings highlight poor communication, staff shortages, high caseloads, limited community mental health services, and challenges in care coordination. The study provides valuable insights for improving community mental health workers' clinical practice and informs future research and policy development in community mental health care.

Introduction: The Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) is widely used for puberty assessment, yet its psychometric properties and norms are limited to research data. This study examined the psychometric properties of parent- and self-report PDS and established continuous norms in nationally representative samples. Methods: We analyzed two deidentified survey samples: a parent-report sample of children aged 6-18 ( N =2251, M age=11.74, 47.5% female, 75.3% White), and a youth self-report sample aged 12-18 ( N =1006, M age=14.43, 49.7% female, 74.8% White). Both samples were representative of the U.S. population on key demographics, and the self-report sample consisted entirely of children whose parents also participated in the parent sample, thus creating parent-child dyads. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach’s alpha and McDonald’s Omega. Cross-informant agreement was assessed with Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC; two-way model, absolute agreement, single unit) and Bland-Altman plots. Age-dependent norms of each sex were established with Generalized Additive Models for Location, Scale, and Shape (GAMLSS), with 5 ^th -95 ^th percentile curves and reference tables provided. Results: Parent- and self-report PDS demonstrated acceptable-to-good internal consistency (Cronbach’s α : 0.77-0.89; McDonald’s ω: 0.78-0.90). Among the 1006 parent-youth dyads, excellent cross-informant agreement was observed for both sexes (ICC(2,1)=0.88 for boys; ICC=0.87 for girls). Parents’ and children’s PDS total scores did not differ significantly for boys; for girls, parents rated pubertal development on average 0.13 points lower than children’s self-report. Regardless of informants, PDS scores increased nonlinearly with age and exhibited sex-specific developmental patterns. Girls showed earlier pubertal onset, faster progression, and greater convergence toward pubertal completion by late adolescence. Discussion: The PDS demonstrated strong psychometrics in national samples, supporting its utility in the general pediatric population. The national norms provide empirical benchmarks for PDS score interpretation, strengthening its value as a broad estimation of pubertal status and a pre-screening tool for identifying early or delayed puberty.

Illness perceptions (IPs) encompass opinions regarding the nature, severity and curability of a disease. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between alexithymia and IPs among persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) and their partners, as well as within the dyads composed of PwMS and partners. PwMS referred to the Multiple Sclerosis Center of the University Hospital “Policlinico-San Marco” from 11th August 2021 to 7th January 2022 and their partners completed a battery of questionnaires, including the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 and the Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised. A dyadic data analysis (Actor-Partner Interdependence Model) was performed to test the effect of alexithymic traits both on a person’s own illness perceptions (actor effect) and on the partner’s illness perceptions (partner effect). 100 PwMS (71 women; mean age 47.6 ± 10.4 years) and 100 partners (29 women; mean age 49.1 ± 10.8 years), with a mean partnership duration of 20.1 ± 11.7 years, were enrolled. At the dyadic analysis, statistically significant small-to-moderate actor and partner effects were found considering alexithymia (total score and alexithymic facets) and IPs, whereby higher alexithymic traits related to higher negative perceptions (i.e. consequences, emotional representations) and lower positive ones (i.e. coherence, treatment control). Our findings support the relationship between alexithymia and negative illness appraisals. This data may inform therapeutic interventions aimed at reducing alexithymic traits, which in turn may reduce negative, and potentially dysfunctional, illness perceptions.

Background: Diabetes distress is a common emotional issue for those living with diabetes, which has the potential to negatively impact well‐being, management behaviors, and HbA1c levels. These implications have led to diabetes distress becoming an important consideration in diabetes healthcare and management. Nonetheless, discussions remain ongoing on how to best conceptualize this experience. Recent research has attempted to enhance conceptualization by considering the underlying emotional mechanisms that may underpin the highly contextualized experience of diabetes distress. Qualitative insights can further add to these understandings; however, the research in this remit is yet to be systematically reviewed. This review therefore sought to add to the growing body of literature attempting to better conceptualize diabetes distress and the underlying mechanisms that may contribute to this experience. A secondary aim was to leverage this understanding to consider ways to improve patient–healthcare interactions.Methods: A qualitative systematic review and thematic synthesis was undertaken. Eligible studies were identified through PsycINFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and EMBASE databases from November 2020 to May 2021. Study quality was assessed using the McMaster Critical Review Form.Results: Nineteen papers were included in the review. The analysis resulted in seven descriptive themes which contributed to three analytical themes: (1) threatened autonomy, (2) sense of helplessness, and (3) negative sense of self. These results highlight that a major area underpinning experiences of diabetes distress is not feeling in control.Conclusions: Consideration should be given to how psychological factors, such as locus of control and learned helplessness, may constitute underlying mechanisms impacting emotional regulation in those experiencing diabetes distress. Clinicians should consider including and leading discussions around distress during appointments, as well as using approaches that promote patient autonomy and empowerment.

Intensive Short-Term Psychodynamic Therapy (ISTDP) has demonstrated promising evidence for the treatment of several Functional Neurological Disorders (FND) including dissociative seizures. However, its implementation in secondary mental health and specialist services within the English National Health Service (NHS) is scarce. The aim of this pilot study was to explore the estimates of the therapeutic effects of a 3-session course of this treatment as well as establish safety and acceptability for a complex patient group. The study followed a mixed methods case series design and recruited 18 patients from secondary adult mental health care and specialist neurology services. Participants completed self-report outcome measures at the start, at the end and 1 month following the completion of therapy. Three open-ended questions examined their therapy experiences qualitatively and these were analysed through thematic analysis. All participants who started the treatment (N = 17) completed the intervention and attendance rates were very high (95%). No serious adverse effects were observed and the CORE-OM and BSI showed improvements both at the end of the treatment and at follow-up. Healthcare utilisation was also reduced, including acute medications, A&E attendances and crisis-line usage. The results provide preliminary support for the safe use of ISTDP in this complex group of participants, but further evidence from controlled and randomized studies is warranted.

Study Objectives: Suboptimal use of positive airway pressure (PAP) to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) continues to be a major challenge to effective treatment. Meanwhile, the individual and societal impacts of untreated OSA make effective treatment a priority. Although extensive research has been conducted into factors that impact PAP use, it is estimated that at least half of users do not use it as prescribed. However, the voice of users is notably minimal in the literature. A systematic review and qualitative metasynthesis of PAP user experience was conducted to contribute to understandings of how PAP is experienced and to inform how usage could be improved.Methods: PsycINFO, MEDLINE, CINAHL, and EMBASE databases were systematically searched. Primary research findings of adult experiences using PAP that had been inductively analyzed were included. Papers were critically appraised using the CASP qualitative checklist to generate a “hierarchy of evidence.” Thematic synthesis was then conducted to generate analytical themes. Results were presented in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA).Results: Twenty-five papers reporting on over 398 people’s experiences were analyzed to generate four themes: Journey to PAP, Discomfort from and around PAP, Adapting to and using PAP, and Benefits from PAP. Author reflexivity and vulnerability to bias is acknowledged.Conclusions: The findings highlight the applicability of a biopsychosocial understanding to PAP use. This metasynthesis gave voice to user experiences, revealing barriers to PAP use at a healthcare service level across the world, and suggests ways services can address these barriers.PROSPERO registration number: CRD42020157767

Background: Difficulties with decision making and risk taking in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) have been associated with mood episodes. However, there is limited information about these experiences during euthymia, the mood state where people with BD spent the majority of their time. Aims: To examine how individuals with BD consider risk in everyday decisions during their euthymic phase. Method: We conducted a qualitative study that used semi-structured audio recorded interviews. Eight euthymic participants with confirmed BD were interviewed, and we used interpretative phenomenological analysis to analyse the data. Results: We identified four themes. The first theme, 'Who I really am', involves the relationship between individual identity and risks taken. The second theme, 'Taking back control of my life', explored the relationship between risks taken as participants strove to keep control of their lives. The third theme, 'Fear of the "what ifs"', represents how the fear of negative consequences from taking risks impacts risk decisions. Finally, the fourth theme, 'The role of family and friends', highlights the important role that a supporting network can play in their lives in the context of taking risks. Conclusions: The study highlights aspects that can impact on an individual with BD's consideration of risk during euthymia. Identity, control, fear and support all play a role when a person considers risk in their decision-making process, and they should be taken into consideration when exploring risk with individuals with BD in clinical settings, and inform the design of future interventions.