Accessibility of published research to practicing veterinarians.

OBJECTIVES: This study established the percentage of veterinary research articles that are freely available online, availability differences inside and outside of core veterinary medicine publications, sources and trends in article availability over time, and author archiving policies of veterinary journals. This research is particularly important for unaffiliated practitioners who lack broad subscription access and the librarians who assist them. METHODS: Web of Science citation data were collected for articles published from 2000-2014 by authors from twenty-eight accredited US colleges of veterinary medicine. A sample of these articles was searched by title in Google Scholar to determine which were freely available online and their sources. Journals represented in this dataset and a basic list of veterinary serials were cross-referenced with the Sherpa/RoMEO database to determine author archiving policies and the percentage of articles that could potentially be made freely available. RESULTS: Over half (62%) of the sample articles were freely available online, most of which (57%) were available from publishers' websites. Articles published more recently were more likely to be freely available. More articles were found to be available in 2017 (62%) than in 2015 (57%). Most (62%) of the included journals had policies allowing authors to archive copies of their articles. CONCLUSIONS: Many articles are freely available online, but opportunity exists to archive additional articles while complying with existing copyright agreements. Articles in veterinary medicine-specific journals are less likely to be freely available than those in interdisciplinary journals. Requirements for federally funded research have likely influenced article availability and may continue to do so.

Essential and core books for veterinary medicine.

OBJECTIVES: This study defined core and essential lists of recent, English-language veterinary medicine books using a data-driven methodology for potential use by a broad audience, including libraries that are building collections supporting veterinary sciences and One Health initiatives. METHODS: Book titles were collected from monograph citation databases, veterinary examination reading lists, veterinary college textbook and library reserve lists, and published bibliographies. These lists were combined into a single list with titles ranked by the number of occurrences. RESULTS: The methodology produced a core list of 122 monographs and an essential list of 33 titles. All titles are recent, edition neutral, English language monographs. One title is out of print. CONCLUSIONS: The methodology captured qualitative and quantitative input from four distinct populations who use veterinary monographs: veterinary practitioners, educators, researchers, and librarians. Data were collected and compiled to determine core and essential lists that represented all groups. Unfortunately, data are not available for all subareas of veterinary medicine, resulting in uneven subject coverage. This methodology can be replicated and adapted for other subject areas.

Adding motivational interviewing to exposure and ritual prevention for obsessive-compulsive disorder: an open pilot trial.

Exposure and ritual prevention (EX/RP) is an efficacious treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but high dropout rates and variable treatment adherence limit its effectiveness. Motivational interviewing (MI) has shown promise as an adjunct to symptom-focused treatments for improving treatment adherence and outcomes. The authors developed a manual integrating MI with EX/RP, consisting of three information-gathering/motivational enhancement sessions and 15 EX/RP sessions with an optional MI module to be used as needed. Six patients with moderate to severe OCD symptoms (Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale [Y-BOCS] score> or =16) underwent treatment. Five showed a decrease in their baseline Y-BOCS scores and an increase in their quality of life, with three achieving an excellent response (i.e. Y-BOCS< or =12 at Session 18). The authors briefly describe the motivational strategies used in the six cases and suggest that integrating MI with standard EX/RP is a promising method to increase and sustain patient engagement with EX/RP. Challenges in combining these treatments and maintaining the integrity of each as well as limitations of the study are discussed.

Development of a patient adherence scale for exposure and response prevention therapy.

Exposure and response prevention (EX/RP) is an evidence-based treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). For EX/RP to be maximally effective, it is believed that patients must adhere outside of sessions to the procedures they learn in therapy. To date, there is no standard measure of patient EX/RP adherence, despite the importance of accurately assessing EX/RP adherence in both clinical research and practice. This paper describes the development of the Patient EX/RP Adherence Scale (PEAS), which assesses the patient's between-session adherence to the therapist's EX/RP instructions, and presents initial data on the scale's reliability and validity. The scale was designed to focus on the key procedures of EX/RP and to be brief enough to be used at each treatment session. The scale demonstrates excellent interrater reliability and good face and content validity. The usefulness of the scale is considered in the context of being an important tool to researchers trying to understand and improve outcomes of EX/RP for OCD as well as to EX/RP therapists in clinical practice. Future research will need to test the scale's reliability and validity in a larger sample of patients over the course of treatment.

Challenges using motivational interviewing as an adjunct to exposure therapy for obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Exposure and response prevention (EX/RP) is an efficacious treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, patients often do not adhere fully to EX/RP procedures. Motivational interviewing (MI) has been shown to improve treatment adherence in other disorders. This pilot study used a randomized controlled design to examine whether MI can be successfully added to EX/RP and whether this intervention (EX/RP+MI) could improve patient adherence to between-session EX/RP procedures relative to EX/RP alone. Thirty adults with OCD were randomized to 18 sessions of EX/RP or EX/RP+MI. Therapists rated patient adherence at each exposure session. Independent evaluators assessed change in OCD and depressive symptoms, and patients completed self-report measures of readiness for change and quality of life. The two treatment conditions differed in degree of congruence with MI but not in conduct of EX/RP procedures. Both groups experienced clinically significant improvement in OCD symptoms, without significant group differences in patient adherence. There are several possible reasons why EX/RP+MI had no effect on patient adherence compared to standard EX/RP, each of which has important implications for the design of future MI studies in OCD. We recommend that MI be further evaluated in OCD by exploring alternative modes of delivery and by focusing on patients less ready for change than the current sample.