Generational differences in mental health trends in the twenty-first century.

Given the observed deterioration in mental health among Australians over the past decade, this study investigates to what extent this differs in people born in different decades-i.e., possible birth cohort differences in the mental health of Australians. Using 20 y of data from a large, nationally representative panel survey (N = 27,572), we find strong evidence that cohort effects are driving the increase in population-level mental ill-health. Deteriorating mental health is particularly pronounced among people born in the 1990s and seen to a lesser extent among the 1980s cohort. There is little evidence that mental health is worsening with age for people born prior to the 1980s. The findings from this study highlight that it is the poorer mental health of Millennials that is driving the apparent deterioration in population-level mental health. Understanding the context and changes in society that have differentially affected younger people may inform efforts to ameliorate this trend and prevent it continuing for emerging cohorts.

Implementation of a ketamine programme for treatment-resistant depression in the public health system: Lessons from the first Australian public hospital clinic.

One could argue that we are living through a period of innovation and change in psychiatry unlike that seen before, with repurposed medications emerging as novel treatments. However, despite evidence of enhanced clinical outcomes and potential medium-term savings, delivering these promising interventions is resource-intensive and perceived as difficult in the public sector. Consequently, they are generally only available in the private sector, often at great cost, effectively making them inaccessible to the 'Have Nots'. The arrival of these paradigm-shifting treatments has inadvertently highlighted a growing mental health inequity. The Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's Ketamine Treatment Clinic was the first public-sector ketamine treatment clinic for complex mood disorders in Australia. Based on 3 years' experience establishing, developing and running a public-sector ketamine treatment service, we review the progress, perils and pitfalls for clinicians and health services contemplating establishing a public-sector ketamine treatment service of their own.

A taxonomy of regulatory and policy matters relevant to psychedelic-assisted therapy in Australia.

OBJECTIVES: The Australian government recently rescheduled psilocybin and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine for limited clinical uses. This change has raised various regulatory concerns and challenges for the field of psychedelic-assisted therapy. To provide clarity, we aimed to comprehensively catalogue the matters relating to psychedelic-assisted therapy that are or could be regulated. METHODS: We conducted a desktop review of the literature and current regulatory sources, semi-structured interviews with professionals who had expertise in fields relating to psychedelic-assisted therapy and a framework analysis to generate a taxonomy of relevant regulatory matters. In relation to each matter, we further identified what type of regulation (if any) currently applies to that matter, any uncertainty as to how the matter should be addressed in clinical practice in the context of current regulation and whether there are conflicting views as to how the matter could or should be further regulated. RESULTS: The taxonomy is structured into six main regulatory domains, three of which have a substantial proportion of matters with uncertainty or conflicting views: Service Establishment, Practitioner, and Treatment Delivery. Key examples of such matters include the location of services and facilities required, which professionals are eligible to become psychedelic therapists, and with what qualifications and experience. Matters in the remaining three domains, Patient Evaluation, Drug Supply and Service Oversight, appear by comparison relatively settled, with regulation either well-established or thought unnecessary. CONCLUSIONS: The taxonomy provides a roadmap for health services establishing and implementing a psychedelic-assisted therapy program, or for government and other policymakers when determining areas that may require further regulation.

Ensuring the affordable becomes accessible-lessons from ketamine, a new treatment for severe depression.

In this paper, the case study of ketamine as a new treatment for severe depression is used to outline the challenges of repurposing established medicines and we suggest potential solutions. The antidepressant effects of generic racemic ketamine were identified over 20 years ago, but there were insufficient incentives for commercial entities to pursue its registration, or support for non-commercial entities to fill this gap. As a result, the evaluation of generic ketamine was delayed, piecemeal, uncoordinated, and insufficient to gain approval. Meanwhile, substantial commercial investment enabled the widespread registration of a patented, intranasal s-enantiomeric ketamine formulation (Spravato®) for depression. However, Spravato is priced at $600-$900/dose compared to ~$5/dose for generic ketamine, and the ~AUD$100 million annual government investment requested in Australia (to cover drug costs alone) has been rejected twice, leaving this treatment largely inaccessible for Australian patients 2 years after Therapeutic Goods Administration approval. Moreover, emerging evidence indicates that generic racemic ketamine is at least as effective as Spravato, but no comparative trials were required for regulatory approval and have not been conducted. Without action, this story will repeat regularly in the next decade with a new wave of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy treatments, for which the original off-patent molecules could be available at low-cost and reduce the overall cost of treatment. Several systemic reforms are required to ensure that affordable, effective options become accessible; these include commercial incentives, public and public-private funding schemes, reduced regulatory barriers and more coordinated international public funding schemes to support translational research.

The effectiveness of brief non-pharmacological interventions in emergency departments and psychiatric inpatient units for people in crisis: A systematic review and narrative synthesis.

OBJECTIVE: Heterogeneous brief non-pharmacological interventions and guidelines exist to treat the burgeoning presentations to both emergency department and inpatient settings, for those in a crisis of mental ill-health. We systematically reviewed the literature to create a taxonomy of these brief non-pharmacological interventions, and review their evaluation methods and effectiveness. METHOD: We conducted a systematic review across Cochrane, CINAHL, DARE, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO databases. Studies meeting quality criteria, using Joanna Briggs Institute tools, were eligible. Interventions were categorised, and outcomes synthesised. RESULTS: Thirty-nine studies were included: 8 randomised controlled trials, 17 quasi-experimental, 11 qualitative studies, and 3 file audits. Taxonomy produced six coherent intervention types: Skills-focussed, Environment-focussed, Special Observation, Psychoeducation, Multicomponent Group and Multicomponent Individual. Despite this, a broad and inconsistent range of outcome measures reflected different outcome priorities and prevented systematic comparison of different types of intervention or meta-analysis. Few brief non-pharmacological interventions had consistent evidential support: sensory modulation rooms consistently improved distress in inpatient settings. Short admissions may reduce suicide attempts and readmission, if accompanied by psychotherapy. Suicide-specific interventions in emergency departments may improve depressive symptoms, but not suicide attempt rates. There was evidence that brief non-pharmacological interventions did not reduce incidence of self-harm on inpatient wards. We found no evidence for frequently used interventions such as no-suicide contracting, special observation or inpatient self-harm interventions. CONCLUSION: Categorising brief non-pharmacological interventions is feasible, but an evidence base for many is severely limited if not missing. Even when there is evidence, the inconsistency in outcomes often precludes clinicians from making inferences, although some interventions show promise.

Work-related suicide: Evolving understandings of etiology & intervention.

Previously published analyses of suicide case investigations suggest that work or working conditions contribute to 10%-13% of suicide deaths. Yet, the way in which work may increase suicide risk is an underdeveloped area of epidemiologic research. In this Commentary, we propose a definition of work-related suicide from an occupational health and safety perspective, and review the case investigation-based and epidemiologic evidence on work-related causes of suicide. We identified six broad categories of potential work-related causes of suicide, which are: (1) workplace chemical, physical, and psychosocial exposures; (2) exposure to trauma on the job; (3) access to means of suicide through work; (4) exposure to high-stigma work environments; (5) exposure to normative environments promoting extreme orientation to work; and (6) adverse experiences arising from work-related injury or illness. We summarise current evidence in a schema of potential work-related causes that can also be applied in workplace risk assessment and suicide case investigations. There are numerous implications of these findings for policy and practice. Various principle- and evidence-based workplace intervention strategies for suicide prevention exist, some of which have been shown to improve suicide-prevention literacy, reduce stigma, enhance helping behaviours, and in some instances maybe even reduce suicide rates. Prevailing practice in workplace suicide prevention, however, overly emphasises individual- and illness-directed interventions, with little attention directed to addressing the working conditions that may increase suicide risk. We conclude that a stronger emphasis on improving working conditions will be required for workplace suicide prevention to reach its full preventive potential.

Efficacy and safety of a 4-week course of repeated subcutaneous ketamine injections for treatment-resistant depression (KADS study): randomised double-blind active-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Prior trials suggest that intravenous racemic ketamine is a highly effective for treatment-resistant depression (TRD), but phase 3 trials of racemic ketamine are needed. AIMS: To assess the acute efficacy and safety of a 4-week course of subcutaneous racemic ketamine in participants with TRD. Trial registration: ACTRN12616001096448 at www.anzctr.org.au. METHOD: This phase 3, double-blind, randomised, active-controlled multicentre trial was conducted at seven mood disorders centres in Australia and New Zealand. Participants received twice-weekly subcutaneous racemic ketamine or midazolam for 4 weeks. Initially, the trial tested fixed-dose ketamine 0.5 mg/kg versus midazolam 0.025 mg/kg (cohort 1). Dosing was revised, after a Data Safety Monitoring Board recommendation, to flexible-dose ketamine 0.5-0.9 mg/kg or midazolam 0.025-0.045 mg/kg, with response-guided dosing increments (cohort 2). The primary outcome was remission (Montgomery-Åsberg Rating Scale for Depression score ≤10) at the end of week 4. RESULTS: The final analysis (those who received at least one treatment) comprised 68 in cohort 1 (fixed-dose), 106 in cohort 2 (flexible-dose). Ketamine was more efficacious than midazolam in cohort 2 (remission rate 19.6% v. 2.0%; OR = 12.1, 95% CI 2.1-69.2, P = 0.005), but not different in cohort 1 (remission rate 6.3% v. 8.8%; OR = 1.3, 95% CI 0.2-8.2, P = 0.76). Ketamine was well tolerated. Acute adverse effects (psychotomimetic, blood pressure increases) resolved within 2 h. CONCLUSIONS: Adequately dosed subcutaneous racemic ketamine was efficacious and safe in treating TRD over a 4-week treatment period. The subcutaneous route is practical and feasible.

A qualitative exploration of young people's mental health needs in rural and regional Australia: engagement, empowerment and integration.

BACKGROUND: Australian rural and regional communities are marked by geographic isolation and increasingly frequent and severe natural disasters such as drought, bushfires and floods. These circumstances strain the mental health of their inhabitants and jeopardise the healthy mental and emotional development of their adolescent populations. Professional mental health care in these communities is often inconsistent and un-coordinated. While substantial research has examined the barriers of young people's mental health and help-seeking behaviours in these communities, there is a lack of research exploring what adolescents in rural and regional areas view as facilitators to their mental health and to seeking help when it is needed. This study aims to establish an in-depth understanding of those young people's experiences and needs regarding mental health, what facilitates their help-seeking, and what kind of mental health education and support they want and find useful. METHOD: We conducted a qualitative study in 11 drought-affected rural and regional communities of New South Wales, Australia. Seventeen semi-structured (14 group; 3 individual) interviews were held with 42 year 9 and 10 high school students, 14 high school staff, and 2 parents, exploring participants' experiences of how geographical isolation and natural disasters impacted their mental health. We further examined participants' understandings and needs regarding locally available mental health support resources and their views and experiences regarding mental illness, stigma and help-seeking. RESULTS: Thematic analysis highlighted that, through the lens of participants, young people's mental health and help-seeking needs would best be enabled by a well-coordinated multi-pronged community approach consisting of mental health education and support services that are locally available, free of charge, engaging, and empowering. Participants also highlighted the need to integrate young people's existing mental health supporters such as teachers, parents and school counselling services into such a community approach, recognising their strengths, limitations and own education and support needs. CONCLUSIONS: We propose a three-dimensional Engagement, Empowerment, Integration model to strengthen young people's mental health development which comprises: 1) maximising young people's emotional investment (engagement); 2) developing young people's mental health self-management skills (empowerment); and, 3) integrating mental health education and support programs into existing community and school structures and resources (integration).

Online mental health training program for male-dominated organisations: a pre-post pilot study assessing feasibility, usability, and preliminary effectiveness.

PURPOSE: The emergence of digital health interventions for mental ill-health in the workplace is expansive. Digital interventions delivered in male-dominated settings are less so. This pilot study aimed to assess the usability, feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effects of an online intervention in a male-dominated organization. We focus on male-dominated as mental ill-health is frequently unrecognized and underdiagnosed among males. METHODS: Unwind, a 7-week internet-based program with stress-management components, was tested in a pre-post pilot study. Unwind gets users to identify and understand their stress triggers and assists them to develop adaptive ways to manage these and their stress. Participants were Australian adults employed in a mining company. Follow-up assessment occurred 8 weeks after baseline. The primary outcome measure was change in stress symptoms, with secondary outcomes; change in depression, anxiety, insomnia, well-being, and alcohol use. User feedback and program data were analyzed to assess usability, engagement, and intervention adherence. RESULTS: Eligible participants n = 87 showed significant reductions in stress (g = 0.46, p < 0.001), depression (g = 0.47, p < 0.001), anxiety (g = 0.50, p < 0.001), insomnia (g = 0.44, p < 0.001), and well-being (g = 0.32, p = 0.004) post-intervention. Significant improvements were observed in both well and unwell (mental ill-health) and male and female participants. There was no gender effect on outcomes. A dose-response was observed as the number of modules used was related positively to improvement in anxiety (F1,86 = 5.735, p = 0.019; R2 = 0.25). Overall users rated Unwind as useful and engaging. CONCLUSION: This study presents evidence base that Unwind is a feasible and acceptable approach to reducing employees' mental health-related symptoms in typically difficult-to-reach male-dominated industries. Unwind is feasible for larger scale delivery within male-dominated industries.

What happened to the predicted COVID-19-induced suicide epidemic, and why?

Two years ago, in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, there were widespread and grim predictions of an ensuing suicide epidemic. Not only has this not happened but also by the end of 2021 in the majority of countries and regions with available data, the suicide rates had, if anything, declined. We discuss four reasons why the predictions of suicide models were exaggerated: (1) government intervention reduced the economic and mental costs of lockdowns, (2) the pandemic itself and lockdowns had less of an effect on mental health than assumed, (3) the evidence for a link between economic downturns, distress and suicide is weaker and less consistent than the models assumed and (4) predicting suicide is generally hard. Predictive models have an important place, but their strong modelling assumptions need to acknowledge the inherent high degree of uncertainty which has been further augmented by behavioural responses of pandemic management.

The comparative mental health of Australian doctors before and during COVID-19: A population-based approach.

OBJECTIVE: Occupational surveys of doctors consistently show higher rates of depression and anxiety than reported in general population surveys, findings replicated in all other occupational groups, suggesting potential selection bias. We evaluated the comparative mental health of different occupations in Australia from the same sampling frame over the past 6 years and assessed whether COVID-19 differentially affected different occupational groups. METHODS: We analysed six annual data waves (2015-2020) from the nationally representative 'Household, Income, and Labour Dynamics in Australia' study. Mental health (Mental Health Inventory-5 from the 36-Item Short Form Survey) and life satisfaction scores of doctors over this period were compared with five other professions and all other employees. Regression models were adjusted for age, gender, income and work hours. Two-way analysis of variance examined the comparative changes in mental health among occupations between 2019 and after exposure to the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020. RESULTS: The sample of 15,174 employed respondents included 106 doctors. The 5-year mean mental health score for doctors (M = 78.7; SD = 13.1) was significantly higher than that for teachers (M = 75.6; SD = 14.9), nurses and midwives (M = 76.6; SD = 15.9), lawyers (M = 74.2; SD = 16.1), accountants (M = 74.2; SD = 16.5) and all other employed respondents (M = 73.1, SD = 16.7) (p < 0.001). Cognitive wellbeing comparisons were similar. There were no significant changes in professionals' mental health over this period except for an improvement in engineers and a decline for teachers. From 2019 to 2020, all occupations suffered mental health declines without any significant inter-occupational differences. CONCLUSION: Australian doctors identified from a population-based sample rather than occupational surveys reported better levels of mental health and greater life satisfaction than most professions prior to COVID-19 without experiencing the worsening seen in the general employed population over the past 5 years. From 2020, there was a mental health decline in all of the employed population, not disproportionately affecting doctors. Although over-representing Australian trained general practitioners, the results from both this sample and other tentative findings challenge the discourse in medical advocacy, but need more formal comparative studies to confirm.

Predictive modelling of deliberate self-harm and suicide attempts in young people accessing primary care: a machine learning analysis of a longitudinal study.

PURPOSE: Machine learning (ML) has shown promise in modelling future self-harm but is yet to be applied to key questions facing clinical services. In a cohort of young people accessing primary mental health care, this study aimed to establish (1) the performance of models predicting deliberate self-harm (DSH) compared to suicide attempt (SA), (2) the performance of models predicting new-onset or repeat behaviour, and (3) the relative importance of factors predicting these outcomes. METHODS: 802 young people aged 12-25 years attending primary mental health services had detailed social and clinical assessments at baseline and 509 completed 12-month follow-up. Four ML algorithms, as well as logistic regression, were applied to build four distinct models. RESULTS: The mean performance of models predicting SA (AUC: 0.82) performed better than the models predicting DSH (AUC: 0.72), with mean positive predictive values (PPV) approximately twice that of the prevalence (SA prevalence 14%, PPV: 0.32, DSH prevalence 22%, PPV: 0.40). All ML models outperformed standard logistic regression. The most frequently selected variable in both models was a history of DSH via cutting. CONCLUSION: History of DSH and clinical symptoms of common mental disorders, rather than social and demographic factors, were the most important variables in modelling future behaviour. The performance of models predicting outcomes in key sub-cohorts, those with new-onset or repetition of DSH or SA during follow-up, was poor. These findings may indicate that the performance of models of future DSH or SA may depend on knowledge of the individual's recent history of either behaviour.

Correction: Preliminary Investigation of Shift, a Novel Smartphone App to Support Junior Doctors' Mental Health and Well-being: Examination of Symptom Progression, Usability, and Acceptability After 1 Month of Use.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.2196/38497.].

The Effectiveness of Digital Insomnia Treatment with Adjunctive Wearable Technology: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

OBJECTIVE: This pilot trial aimed to provide evidence for whether the integration of a wearable device with digital behavioral therapy for insomnia (dBTi) improves treatment outcomes and engagement. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: One hundred and twenty-eight participants with insomnia symptoms were randomized to a 3-week dBTi program (SleepFix®) with a wearable device enabling sleep data synchronization (dBTi+wearable group; n = 62) or dBTi alone (n = 66). Participants completed the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and modified Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) parameters: wake-after-sleep-onset (WASO), sleep-onset-latency (SOL), and total sleep time (TST) at baseline and weeks 1, 2, 3, and primary endpoint of week 6 and follow-up at 12 weeks. Engagement was measured by the number of daily sleep diaries logged in the app. RESULTS: There was no difference in ISI change scores between the groups from pre- to post-treatment (Cohen's d= 0.7, p= .061). The dBTi+wearable group showed greater improvements in WASO (d= 0.8, p = .005) and TST (d= 0.3, p= .049) compared to the dBTi group. Significantly greater engagement (sleep diary entries) was observed in the dBTi+wearable group (mean = 22.4, SD = 10.0) compared to the dBTi group (mean = 14.1, SD = 14.2) (p = .010). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot trial found that integration of wearable device with a digital insomnia therapy enhanced user engagement and led to improvements in sleep parameters compared to dBTi alone. These findings suggest that adjunctive wearable technologies may improve digital insomnia therapy effectiveness.

Preliminary Investigation of Shift, a Novel Smartphone App to Support Junior Doctors' Mental Health and Well-being: Examination of Symptom Progression, Usability, and Acceptability After 1 Month of Use.

BACKGROUND: Shift is a novel smartphone app for providing a digital-first mental health resource to junior doctors. It contains psychoeducational material, cognitive behavioral modules, guided mediations, information on common work stressors, and a section on help-seeking options for psychological problems through workplace and private avenues. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to conduct a preliminary investigation of the use and potential effectiveness of Shift on depressive and anxiety symptoms (primary outcomes) and work and social functioning, COVID-19 safety concerns, and help seeking (secondary outcomes). This study also sought feedback on whether Shift was seen as an acceptable tool. METHODS: Junior doctors in New South Wales, Australia, were approached through promotional activities from the Ministry of Health, specialist medical colleges, and social media advertisements between June and August 2020. Consenting participants provided web-based baseline data, used the Shift app for 30 days, and were asked to complete a poststudy web-based questionnaire. Outcomes were analyzed under the intention-to-treat principle. RESULTS: A total of 222 (n=156 female, 70.3%; mean age 29.2, SD 4.61 years) junior doctors provided full baseline data. Of these, 89.2% (198/222) downloaded the app, logged into the app approximately 6 times (mean 5.68, SD 7.51), completed 4 in-app activities (mean 3.77, SD 4.36), and spent a total of 1 hour on in-app activities (mean 52:23, SD 6:00:18) over 30 days. Postintervention and app use data were provided by 24.3% (54/222) of participants. Depressive and anxiety symptoms significantly decreased between the pre- and postassessment points as expected; however, physicians' COVID-19 safety concerns significantly increased. Work and social functioning, COVID-19 concerns for family and friends, and help seeking did not change significantly. There was no significant relationship between symptom changes and app use (number of log-ins, days between first and last log-in, and total activity time). Most poststudy completers (31/54, 57%) rated Shift highly or very highly. CONCLUSIONS: Despite high levels of nonresponse to the poststudy assessment and increases in COVID-19 safety concerns, junior doctors who used the app reported some improvements in depression and anxiety, which warrant further exploration in a robust manner.

Trends in Effectiveness of Organizational eHealth Interventions in Addressing Employee Mental Health: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Mental health conditions are considered the leading cause of disability, sickness absence, and long-term work incapacity. eHealth interventions provide employees with access to psychological assistance. There has been widespread implementation and provision of eHealth interventions in the workplace as an inexpensive and anonymous way of addressing common mental disorders. OBJECTIVE: This updated review aimed to synthesize the literature on the efficacy of eHealth interventions for anxiety, depression, and stress outcomes in employee samples in organizational settings and evaluate whether their effectiveness has improved over time. METHODS: Systematic searches of relevant articles published from 2004 to July 2020 of eHealth intervention trials (app- or web-based) focusing on the mental health of employees were conducted. The quality and bias of all studies were assessed. We extracted means and SDs from publications by comparing the differences in effect sizes (Hedge g) in standardized mental health outcomes. We meta-analyzed these data using a random-effects model. RESULTS: We identified a tripling of the body of evidence, with 75 trials available for meta-analysis from a combined sample of 14,747 articles. eHealth interventions showed small positive effects for anxiety (Hedges g=0.26, 95% CI 0.13-0.39; P<.001), depression (Hedges g=0.26, 95% CI 0.19-0.34; P<.001), and stress (Hedges g=0.25, 95% CI 0.17-0.34; P<.001) in employees' after intervention, with similar effects seen at the medium-term follow-up. However, there was evidence of no increase in the effectiveness of these interventions over the past decade. CONCLUSIONS: This review and meta-analysis confirmed that eHealth interventions have a small positive impact on reducing mental health symptoms in employees. Disappointingly, we found no evidence that, despite the advances in technology and the enormous resources in time, research, and finance devoted to this area for over a decade, better interventions are being produced. Hopefully, these small effect sizes do not represent optimum outcomes in organizational settings. TRIAL REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42020185859; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=185859.

Surgical experience for patients with serious mental illness: a qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: People with serious mental illness (SMI) have significantly worse surgical outcomes compared to the general population. There are many contributing factors to this complex issue, however consideration of the surgical experience from the patient's own perspective has never been undertaken. This lack of understanding prevents the provision of truly patient centred care and may limit the impact of potential improvement initiatives. Therefore this study aims to describe and better understand the surgical experience from the perspective of patients with SMI. METHODS: Within this qualitative study, semi-structured, audio-recorded interviews were conducted between August 2019 - June 2020, with 10 consenting participants with SMI who had surgery in the previous 2 years. A thematic analysis approach was used to explore both the positive and negative aspects of the participant's surgical experience commencing from pre-operative consultation to hospital discharge and follow-up. RESULTS: Four main themes and related subthemes emerged including i) the perceived lack of mental ill health recognition, ii) highly variable patient and clinician interactions, iii) the impact of healthcare services, and iv) strategies for improvement. CONCLUSION: Surgical patients with SMI want to be treated like everyone else whilst still having their mental ill health acknowledged and proactively managed despite this rarely occurring, which is valuable information for all surgical teams to consider and learn from. Participants were able to describe several readily implementable strategies to potentially improve their care and overall surgical experience, and as such highlight considerable opportunities for these to be tested and evaluated for this underserved patient group.

Can an online mental health training programme improve physician supervisors' behaviour towards trainees?

BACKGROUND: Physician trainees have elevated rates of psychological distress, mental disorders and suicide. Physician supervisors can support the mental health needs of trainees. AIMS: To test the feasibility and acceptability of a tailored online mental health training programme and to ascertain the potential effectiveness of the programme to alter the confidence and behaviours of physician supervisors. METHODS: Thirty Australian hospital-based physicians who were supervising physician trainees participated in this quasi-experimental pre-post pilot study. All received the intervention that comprised 12 5-min modules to complete over a 3-week period. Baseline and post-intervention data were collected. The primary outcome evaluated participants' confidence to respond to trainees experiencing mental ill-health and promote a mentally healthy workplace. Secondary outcomes evaluated change in self-reported behaviour, mental health knowledge and stigmatising attitudes. Differences in mean scale scores for each outcome measure from baseline and post-intervention were compared using paired sample t-tests. RESULTS: Thirty physicians completed the baseline assessment and 23 (76.7%) completed all programme modules. Most participants found the programme engaging, interesting and useful. Post-intervention data, available for 25 (83.3%) participants, showed a significant increase in participants' knowledge of their role in supporting trainees under their supervision (P = 0.002), confidence to initiate conversations about mental health with staff (P < 0.001), and application of preventive and responsive supervisory behaviours to support the mental health needs of those they supervise (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: This online mental health training programme for physician supervisors was feasible and associated with improved confidence and behaviour to support the mental health needs of trainees they supervised.

Framework for the Design Engineering and Clinical Implementation and Evaluation of mHealth Apps for Sleep Disturbance: Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND: Mobile health (mHealth) apps offer a scalable option for treating sleep disturbances at a population level. However, there is a lack of clarity about the development and evaluation of evidence-based mHealth apps. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this systematic review was to provide evidence for the design engineering and clinical implementation and evaluation of mHealth apps for sleep disturbance. METHODS: A systematic search of studies published from the inception of databases through February 2020 was conducted using 5 databases (MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO, and CINAHL). RESULTS: A total of 6015 papers were identified using the search strategy. After screening, 15 papers were identified that examined the design engineering and clinical implementation and evaluation of 8 different mHealth apps for sleep disturbance. Most of these apps delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I, n=4) or modified CBT-I (n=2). Half of the apps (n=4) identified adopting user-centered design or multidisciplinary teams in their design approach. Only 3 papers described user and data privacy. End-user acceptability and engagement were the most frequently assessed implementation metrics. Only 1 app had available evidence assessing all 4 implementation metrics (ie, acceptability, engagement, usability, and adherence). Most apps were prototype versions (n=5), with few matured apps. A total of 6 apps had supporting papers that provided a quantitative evaluation of clinical outcomes, but only 1 app had a supporting, adequately powered randomized controlled trial. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first systematic review to synthesize and examine evidence for the design engineering and clinical implementation and evaluation of mHealth apps for sleep disturbance. The minimal number of apps with published evidence for design engineering and clinical implementation and evaluation contrasts starkly with the number of commercial sleep apps available. Moreover, there appears to be no standardization and consistency in the use of best practice design approaches and implementation assessments, along with very few rigorous efficacy evaluations. To facilitate the development of successful and evidence-based apps for sleep disturbance, we developed a high-level framework to guide researchers and app developers in the end-to-end process of app development and evaluation.