Computer-based training for cognitive behavioral therapy for Spanish-speaking substance users: adaptation and satisfaction.

There are few available culturally and linguistically adapted behavioral health interventions for substance use among Spanish-speaking adults. The authors describe the cultural adaptation of an innovative computer-based training for cognitive behavioral therapy program (CBT4CBT). Based in cognitive-behavioral skills training, CBT4CBT utilizes a telenovela to teach monolingual Spanish-speaking adults who have migrated to the United States to recognize triggers; avoid these situations; and cope more effectively with the consequences of substance use. Participants endorsed high levels of satisfaction with the program content and found the material to be easy to understand and relevant to their life experiences.

Religiosity and Spirituality in Latinx Individuals with Substance Use Disorders: Association with Treatment Outcomes in a Randomized Clinical Trial.

Although many studies have examined religiosity as a protective factor for substance use, few have considered its relationship to treatment outcomes among Latinx adults. Using data from 89 individuals participating in a randomized clinical trial evaluating a culturally adapted Spanish-language version of web-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT4CBT-Spanish) for substance use, we evaluated the relationship between religiosity, as measured by the Religious Background and Behavior questionnaire, and treatment outcomes. Overall, there were few significant correlations between religiosity scores and treatment outcomes. Past-year religiosity was positively correlated with one measure of abstinence for those randomized to CBT4CBT-Spanish, but this did not persist during a six-month follow-up period. Findings suggest that religiosity may be associated with short-term abstinence outcomes among Latinx adults receiving a culturally adapted cognitive behavioral therapy treatment. However, additional research is needed with larger and more heterogenous Latinx populations.

Hypertelorism Secondary to Mucocele in the Paranasal Sinuses.

Ocular hypertelorism was introduced by Greig as an increased interpupillary distance. The paranasal sinus mucoceles are acquired lesions for various reasons; however, their behavior is progressive, capable of eroding the bone and extending to the orbital and intracranial regions. The objective is to present a clinical case of orbital hypertelorism secondary to mucocele in the paranasal sinuses. This is a 72-year-old male patient who came presenting an increase in volume in the right nasoorbitoethmoidal region. The isodense lesion occupying the maxillary and right ethmoidal sinuses was confirmed by an intimate relationship with the ipsilateral frontal and sphenoidal sinus, with osteolytic involvement of the orbit and nasal region. After incisional biopsy with mucocele results, a wide resection plus facial reconstruction was performed with autologous grafts and osteosynthesis material. Currently, the patient has 1 year of evolution, without significant functional commitment. It is important to consider giant mucoceles as part of the differential diagnoses in patients with deformities in the middle and upper third of the face.

How Do Clinicians Prefer Cultural Competence Training? Findings from the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview Field Trial.

OBJECTIVE: This study's objective is to analyze training methods clinicians reported as most and least helpful during the DSM-5 Cultural Formulation Interview field trial, reasons why, and associations between demographic characteristics and method preferences. METHOD: The authors used mixed methods to analyze interviews from 75 clinicians in five continents on their training preferences after a standardized training session and clinicians' first administration of the Cultural Formulation Interview. Content analysis identified most and least helpful educational methods by reason. Bivariate and logistic regression analysis compared clinician characteristics to method preferences. RESULTS: Most frequently, clinicians named case-based behavioral simulations as "most helpful" and video as "least helpful" training methods. Bivariate and logistic regression models, first unadjusted and then clustered by country, found that each additional year of a clinician's age was associated with a preference for behavioral simulations: OR = 1.05 (95 % CI: 1.01-1.10; p = 0.025). CONCLUSIONS: Most clinicians preferred active behavioral simulations in cultural competence training, and this effect was most pronounced among older clinicians. Effective training may be best accomplished through a combination of reviewing written guidelines, video demonstration, and behavioral simulations. Future work can examine the impact of clinician training satisfaction on patient symptoms and quality of life.

Outcome expectations and associated treatment outcomes in motivational enhancement therapy delivered in English and Spanish.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The relationship between patients' baseline expectations regarding treatment outcome and actual outcomes has not been widely studied within the field of substance use disorders. We hypothesized that outcome expectations would be unrelated to outcomes in a study investigating motivational enhancement therapy delivered in English (MET-E) consistent with our earlier work, and conducted exploratory analyses in a separate study that investigated the same treatment delivered in Spanish (MET-S). METHODS: These secondary analyses compared patient outcome expectations and substance use treatment outcomes in two large, multisite randomized controlled clinical trials that evaluated three sessions of MET-E or MET-S. The MET-E sample included 461 participants and the MET-S sample included 405 participants. Outcome expectations were measured by a single item regarding expectations about abstinence prior to initiating treatment. RESULTS: Outcome expectations were strongly associated with most substance use outcomes in the MET-S trial (but not in MET-E), even after controlling for severity of substance use at baseline. In MET-S, those who indicated that they were "unsure" that they would achieve abstinence during treatment submitted a greater percentage of drug-positive urine toxicology screens during the treatment period than those who were 'sure' they would achieve abstinence (F = 18.83, p < .001). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Patients' outcome expectations regarding the likelihood of abstinence may be an important predictor of drug use treatment outcomes among Spanish-speakers, but not necessarily for English-speakers. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: Individual differences and cultural factors may play a role in the association between outcome expectations and treatment outcomes.

Negative weight-based attitudes in treatment-seeking obese monolingual Hispanic patients with and without binge eating disorder.

OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to compare weight-based attitudes in obese Latino adults with and without binge eating disorder (BED) and to examine whether these attitudes are related to indices of eating disorder psychopathology and psychological functioning. METHOD: Participants were a consecutive series of 79 monolingual Spanish-speaking-only obese Latinos (65 female, 14 male) participating in a randomized placebo-controlled trial performed at a Hispanic community mental health center. Participants were categorized as meeting the criteria for BED (n = 40) or obese non-binge-eating controls (n = 39) based on diagnostic and semistructured interviews administered by fully bilingual research clinicians trained specifically for this study. RESULTS: Analyses revealed that negative attitudes toward obesity did not differ significantly between the BED and non-binge-eating groups nor were they correlated with the intensity of eating disorder psychopathology (eg, levels of weight and shape concerns). Overall, the levels of negative attitudes toward obesity in this Latino/Latina group are similar to those reported previously for samples of English-speaking primarily white obese persons. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that it may be obesity per se-rather than eating disorder psychopathology or body image-that heightens vulnerability to negative weight-based attitudes.

Exploratory factor analysis of borderline personality disorder criteria in monolingual Hispanic outpatients with substance use disorders.

This study examined the factor structure of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV) criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD) in Hispanic patients. Subjects were 130 monolingual Hispanic adults who had been admitted to a specialty outpatient clinic that provides psychiatric and substance abuse services to Spanish-speaking individuals. All were reliably assessed with the Spanish-Language Version of the Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders. After evaluating internal consistency of the BPD criterion set, an exploratory factor analysis was performed using principal axis factoring. Results suggested a unidimensional structure, and were consistent with similar studies of the DSM-IV criteria for BPD in non-Hispanic samples. These findings have implications for understanding borderline psychopathology in this population, and for the overall validity of the DSM-IV BPD construct.

Factor structure and diagnostic efficiency of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, criteria for avoidant personality disorder in Hispanic men and women with substance use disorders.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the internal consistency, factor structure, and diagnostic efficiency of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), criteria for avoidant personality disorder (AVPD) and the extent to which these metrics may be affected by sex. METHOD: Subjects were 130 monolingual Hispanic adults (90 men, 40 women) who had been admitted to a specialty clinic that provides psychiatric and substance abuse services to Spanish-speaking patients. All were reliably assessed with the Spanish-Language Version of the Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders. The AVPD diagnosis was determined by the best-estimate method. After evaluating internal consistency of the AVPD criterion set, an exploratory factor analysis was performed using principal components extraction. Afterward, diagnostic efficiency indices were calculated for all AVPD criteria. Subsequent analyses examined men and women separately. RESULTS: For the overall group, internal consistency of AVPD criteria was good. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a 1-factor solution (accounting for 70% of the variance), supporting the unidimensionality of the AVPD criterion set. The best inclusion criterion was "reluctance to take risks," whereas "interpersonally inhibited" was the best exclusion criterion and the best predictor overall. When men and women were examined separately, similar results were obtained for both internal consistency and factor structure, with slight variations noted between sexes in the patterning of diagnostic efficiency indices. CONCLUSIONS: These psychometric findings, which were similar for men and women, support the construct validity of the DSM-IV criteria for AVPD and may also have implications for the treatment of this particular clinical population.

Loss of control over eating is associated with eating disorder psychopathology in a community sample of Latinas.

This study examined the association between loss of control and eating disorder psychopathology in a community sample of women of Hispanic origin. Seventy-seven monolingual Spanish-speaking Latinas recruited from the community were administered the Spanish language version of the Eating Disorders Examination (S-EDE). Latinas who reported regular (at least once weekly) loss of control-through objective bulimic episodes (OBEs) and/or subjective bulimic episodes (SBEs)-were compared with Latinas who did not report regular loss of control. Latinas who reported LOC did not differ significantly from Latinas who denied LOC in age, current body mass index, or highest adult weight. Latinas who reported LOC had significantly more frequent weight cycling and significantly higher scores on all S-EDE subscales. The findings suggest that regular loss of control over eating-regardless of the amount of food consumed-may be a marker for the presence of eating disorder psychopathology.

Using the Cultural Formulation Interview to Build Culturally Sensitive Services.

As part of the development of DSM-5, the Cultural Formulation Interview (CFI) was administered to 30 monolingual Spanish-speaking adults at one site of a 2012 feasibility study of the CFI. The authors identified salient themes in data collected through use of the CFI, with a focus on interventions that could lead to more culturally responsive mental health services. Findings suggest that establishing trust and focusing on the restoration of social ties while attending to the impact of stigma and patients' pressing psychosocial needs are elements of culturally responsive services for Hispanic persons. Routine use of the CFI can help clinicians identify unique needs and preferences by understanding an individual within his or her cultural context.

The Effectiveness and Cost of Clinical Supervision for Motivational Interviewing: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

The effectiveness of a competency-based supervision approach called Motivational Interviewing Assessment: Supervisory Tools for Enhancing Proficiency (MIA: STEP) was compared to supervision-as-usual (SAU) for increasing clinicians' motivational interviewing (MI) adherence and competence and client retention and primary substance abstinence in a multisite hybrid type 2 effectiveness-implementation randomized controlled trial. Participants were 66 clinicians and 450 clients within one of eleven outpatient substance abuse programs. An independent evaluation of audio recorded supervision sessions indicated that MIA: STEP and SAU were highly and comparably discriminable across sites. While clinicians in both supervision conditions improved their MI performance, clinician supervised with MIA: STEP, compared to those in SAU, showed significantly greater increases in the competency in which they used fundamental and advanced MI strategies when using MI across seven intakes through a 16-week follow-up. There were no retention or substance use differences among the clients seen by clinicians in MIA: STEP or SAU. MIA: STEP was substantially more expensive to deliver than SAU. Innovative alternatives to resource-intensive competency-based supervision approaches such as MIA: STEP are needed to promote the implementation of evidence-based practices.

Application of cultural constructs in the care of first generation Latino clients in a community mental health setting.

As the Latino population in the United States grows, it is imperative to attend to the appropriateness of the mental health care that is being provided to its members. Latinos experience many of the same behavioral health disorders as other ethnic and cultural groups in the United States, but underutilize services relative to many other groups. Such underutilization may be related to issues such as stigma, language, and acculturation level, all of which often create barriers to treatment. First generation Latinos (i.e., individuals born outside the United States) are especially vulnerable to adverse experiences when seeking and receiving treatment. This may be due in part to acculturation and language issues which may further contribute to future underutilization of services. A well established therapeutic alliance developed through the appropriate use of cultural constructs may help mitigate some of the barriers faced by some Latino groups, especially those who are first generation. This paper reviews several cultural constructs that have been highlighted in the Hispanic behavioral health literature and discusses their potential implications for clinical care. This paper offers a number of practical clinical guidelines for mental health professionals who work with Latino groups. These clinical recommendations are based on a synthesis of selected cultural constructs and the clinical experiences of the authors' work in a large community-based Hispanic mental health clinic.

Diagnostic efficiency of DSM-IV criteria for borderline personality disorder: an evaluation in Hispanic men and women with substance use disorders.

This study examined diagnostic efficiency of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition (DSM-IV), criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). One hundred thirty monolingual Hispanic adults (90 men, 40 women) at an outpatient psychiatric and substance abuse clinic were assessed with the Spanish-Language Version of the Diagnostic Interview for DSM-IV Personality Disorders (C. M. Grilo, L. M. Anez, & T. H. McGlashan, 2003). The BPD diagnosis was determined by the best-estimate method. Diagnostic efficiency indices were calculated for all BPD criteria, for the entire study group, and separately by gender. Overall, the best exclusion criterion was affective instability, whereas suicidality or self-injury was the best inclusion criterion and the best predictor overall. These findings did not differ by gender, are similar to those reported elsewhere in the literature, and have implications for the refinement of diagnostic systems.

The convergence of personality disorder diagnoses across different methods among monolingual (Spanish-speaking only) Hispanic patients in substance use treatment.

Methods for diagnosing personality disorders (PDs) within clinical settings typically diverge from those used in treatment research. Treatment groups in research studies are routinely diagnosed using semistructured interviews or self-report questionnaires, yet these methods show poor agreement with clinical diagnoses recorded in medical charts or assigned by treating clinicians, reducing the potential for evidence-based practice. Furthermore, existing research has been limited by focusing on primarily White and English-speaking participants. Our study extended prior research by comparing 4 independent methods of PD diagnosis, including self-report questionnaire, semistructured interview, chart diagnoses, and ratings by treating clinicians, within a clinical series of 130 monolingual (Spanish only) Hispanic persons (69% male; M age 37.4), in treatment for substance use. The authors examined the convergence of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV) PD diagnoses across these methods. PD diagnoses appeared infrequently within medical charts but were diagnosed at higher levels by independent treating clinicians, self-report questionnaires, and semistructured interviews. Nonetheless, diagnostic concordance between clinical diagnoses and the other methods were poor (κ < .20). Convergence of PD diagnoses across diagnostic methods for Spanish-speaking Hispanic persons are comparable to other groups allaying concerns about cross-cultural application of PD diagnoses. Additionally, the results of this study echo previous research in suggesting that clinicians' PD diagnoses overlap little with self-report questionnaires or semistructured diagnostic interviews and suggest that PDs are underdiagnosed using standard diagnostic approaches. Implications for the clinical application of empirically supported research are discussed.

Prevalencia de prediabetes y diabetes mellitus en la región de Zulia, Venezuela: resultados preliminares del estudio EVESCAM / Prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes mellitus in the Zulia region, Venezuela: preliminary results of the EVESCAM study

Determinar la prevalencia de prediabetes y de Diabetes Mellitus (DM) en el estado Zulia, Venezuela. Métodos: se realizó un estudio poblacional, aleatorio, descriptivo utilizando los datos del Estudio Venezolano de la Salud Cardiometabólica (EVESCAM) de la región zuliana incluyendo 525 sujetos adultos de ambos géneros. Se aplicó una encuesta sobre factores de riesgo, antecedentes de DM, se registró peso, talla, índice de masa corporal (IMC) kg/m2, circunferencia de cintura en cm (CC) y presión arterial. Se les tomó muestra de sangre para determinación de glucemia, perfil lipídico y prueba de tolerancia a la glucosa (PTG). Los resultados presentados en tablas y figuras utilizando promedios y desviación estándar, procesados con programa estadístico SSPS, la prevalencia fue calculada y ajustada por edad y sexo, fijando un valor alfa menor de 0,05 (P<0,05) como significativo. Resultados: En total 404 sujetos completaron la evaluación: 126 (31,1%) hombres y 278 (68,8 %) mujeres, con edad promedio de 49,6 ± 15,8 años, Glucemia basal: 108,5 ± 28,9 y PTG a las 2 horas 120,6 ± 37,2 mg/dl. La prevalencia de diabetes ajustada por edad y sexo resultó de 16,0%; 19,9% en hombres y 12,1% en mujeres (P = 0,029) y para Prediabetes 58,5%; 65,8% en hombres y 51,3% en mujeres (P= 0,005). Conclusiones: La población zuliana presentó elevada prevalencia de prediabetes y diabetes mellitus. Urge la necesidad de intervención a través de programas de prevención que detengan su avance(AU)

To determine the prevalence of prediabetes and Diabetes Mellitus (DM) in the State of Zulia, Venezuela. Methods: A clinical, randomized, descriptive study was conducted using data from the Venezuelan Cardio-Metabolic Health Study (EVESCAM) of the Zulian region, including 525 adults of both genders. A risk factors questionnaire, history of DM, weight, height, body mass index (BMI) kg/m2, waist circumference in cm (CC), and blood pressure were measured. Blood samples were taken to determine of Glycaemia, lipid profile, and glucose tolerance test (GTT). Results were presented in tables and figures using averages and standard deviation, analyzed with the software SSPS statistical program, prevalence was calculated and adjusted by age and sex, alpha value lower than 0.05 (P <0.05) was considered significant. Results: A total of 404 subjects completed the evaluation: 126 (31.1%) men and 278 (68.8%) women, with a mean age of 49.6 ± 15.8 years; baseline glycaemia were 108.5 ± 28,9 and GTT 120.6 ± 37.2 mg/dl. The age-standardized diabetes prevalence was 16.0%; 19.9% in men and 12.1% in women (P = 0.029); and the age-standarized prevalence of prediabetes was 58.5%; 65.8 in men and 51.3 in women (P =0.005). Conclusions: Zulia´s population presented a high prevalence of prediabetes and diabetes mellitus. To implement an intervention program to halt it´s progress is of urgent need(AU)

The prevalence and structure of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder in Hispanic psychiatric outpatients.

This study sought to confirm a multi-factor model of Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD) in a Hispanic outpatient sample and to explore associations of the OCPD factors with aggression, depression, and suicidal thoughts. One hundred and thirty monolingual, Spanish-speaking participants were recruited from a community mental health center and were assessed by bilingual doctoral-level clinicians. OCPD was highly prevalent (26%) in this sample. Multi-factor models of OCPD were tested and the two factors - perfectionism and interpersonal rigidity - provided the best model fit. Interpersonal rigidity was associated with aggression and anger while perfectionism was associated with depression and suicidal thoughts.

Informal discussions in substance abuse treatment sessions with Spanish-speaking clients.

This study investigated the extent to which bilingual counselors initiated informal discussions about topics that were unrelated to the treatment of their monolingual Spanish-speaking Hispanic clients in a National Institute on Drug Abuse Clinical Trial Network protocol examining the effectiveness of motivational enhancement therapy (MET). Session audiotapes were independently rated to assess counselor treatment fidelity and the incidence of informal discussions. Eighty-three percent of the 23 counselors participating in the trial initiated informal discussions at least once in one or more of their sessions. Counselors delivering MET in the trial initiated informal discussion significantly less often than the counselors delivering standard treatment. Counselors delivering standard treatment were likely to talk informally the most when they were ethnically non-Latin. In addition, informal discussion was found to have significant inverse correlations with client motivation to reduce substance use and client retention in treatment. These results suggest that informal discussion may have adverse consequences on Hispanic clients' motivation for change and substance abuse treatment outcomes and that maintaining a more formal relationship in early treatment sessions may work best with Hispanic clients. Careful counselor training and supervision in MET may suppress the tendency of counselors to talk informally in sessions.

Evaluating motivational enhancement therapy adherence and competence among Spanish-speaking therapists.

Despite the fact that the number of Hispanic individuals in need of treatment for substance use problems is increasing internationally, no studies have investigated the extent to which therapists can provide empirically supported treatments to Spanish-speaking clients with adequate fidelity. Twenty-three bilingual Hispanic therapists from five community outpatient treatment programs in the United States were randomly assigned to deliver either three sessions of motivational enhancement therapy (MET) or an equivalent number of drug counseling-as-usual (CAU) sessions in Spanish to 405 Spanish-speaking clients randomly assigned to these conditions. Independent ratings of 325 sessions indicated the adherence/competence rating system had good to excellent interrater reliability and indicated strong support for an a priori defined fundamental MET skill factor. Support for an advanced MET skill factor was relatively weaker. The rating scale indicated significant differences in therapists' MET adherence and competence across conditions. These findings indicate that the rating system has promise for assessing the performance of therapists who deliver MET in Spanish and suggest that bilingual Spanish-speaking therapists from the community can be trained to implement MET with adequate fidelity and skill using an intensive multisite training and supervision model.

A multisite randomized effectiveness trial of motivational enhancement therapy for Spanish-speaking substance users.

Hispanic individuals are underrepresented in clinical and research populations and are often excluded from clinical trials in the United States. Hence, there are few data on the effectiveness of most empirically validated therapies for Hispanic substance users. The authors conducted a multisite randomized trial comparing the effectiveness of 3 individual sessions of motivational enhancement therapy with that of 3 individual sessions of counseling as usual on treatment retention and frequency of substance use; all assessment and treatment sessions were conducted in Spanish among 405 individuals seeking treatment for any type of current substance use. Treatment exposure was good, with 66% of participants completing all 3 protocol sessions. Although both interventions resulted in reductions in substance use during the 4-week therapy phase, there were no significant Treatment Condition x Time interactions nor Site x Treatment Condition interactions. Results suggest that the individual treatments delivered in Spanish were both attractive to and effective with this heterogeneous group of Hispanic adults, but the differential effectiveness of motivational enhancement therapy may be limited to those whose primary substance use problem is alcohol and may be fairly modest in magnitude.