Association Between Personality Traits and Functional Limitations in Older Adults with Affective Disorders: A Cross Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVES: Personality traits and affective disorders are both related to functional limitations. It is unknown whether personality traits have an additional effect on functioning in older adults with affective disorders. We studied the association between personality traits and functioning within this group. METHODS: We performed a cross-sectional study of 180 older patients referred to outpatient specialized geriatric mental health care centers with a depressive, anxiety and/or somatic symptom disorder according to DSM-criteria. We studied the association between the Big Five personality traits and functional limitations assessed with the WHO-DAS II, adjusting for potential confounders, including the severity of various affective disorders. RESULTS: The 180 patients (57.1% female, mean age 69.2 years) had an average WHO-DAS II score of 31.3 (SD 15.1). Lower scores on Conscientiousness were associated with more overall functional limitations (p = .001), particularly limitations in self-care (p = .001) and household activities (p = .001). Lower Extraversion scores were associated with more limitations in getting along with others (p = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Personality traits are related to functional limitations independent of the severity of affective disorders in older adults. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Personality traits may be used as predictive factors for functioning in older adults with affective disorders.

Determinants and consequences of polypharmacy in patients with a depressive disorder in later life.

OBJECTIVES: Polypharmacy and late-life depression often congregate in the geriatric population. The primary objective is to identify determinants of polypharmacy in patients with depression, and second to examine polypharmacy in relation to various clinical phenotypes of depression and its course. METHODS: A longitudinal observational study using data of the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older persons (NESDO) including 375 patients with depression ≥ 60 years and 132 non-depressed comparisons. Linear and logistic regression were used to analyze both polypharmacy (dichotomous: ≥5 medications) and number of prescribed drugs (continuous) in relation to depression, various clinical phenotypes, and depression course. RESULTS: Polypharmacy was more prevalent among patients with depression (46.9%) versus non-depressed comparisons (19.7%). A lower level of education, lower cognitive functioning, and more chronic diseases were independently associated with polypharmacy. Adjusted for these determinants, polypharmacy was associated with a higher level of motivational problems, anxiety, pain, and an earlier age of onset. A higher number of drugs was associated with a worse course of late-life depression (OR = 1.24 [95% CI: 1.03-1.49], p = 0.022). CONCLUSION: Older patients with depression have a huge risk of polypharmacy, in particular among those with an early onset depression. As an independent risk factor for chronic depression, polypharmacy needs to be identified and managed appropriately. Findings suggest that depression moderates polypharmacy through shared risk factors, including motivational problems, anxiety, and pain. The complex interaction with somatic health burden requires physicians to prescribe medications with care.

Impact of personality functioning and pathological traits on mental wellbeing of older patients with personality disorders.

BACKGROUND: Although personality disorders are common and consequential, they are largely ignored in geriatric mental healthcare. We examined the relative contributions of different aspects of personality disorders and comorbid mental disorders to the impairment of mental wellbeing in older adults. METHODS: Baseline data were used of 138 patients who participated in a randomized controlled trial on schema therapy for geriatric mental health outpatients with a full or subthreshold cluster B or C personality disorder. Personality was assessed according to both the categorical and dimensional model of DSM-5. Aspects of mental wellbeing assessed were; psychological distress, positive mental health, subjective health, and life satisfaction. The current study uses baseline data of the RCT to examine the associations between different aspects of personality pathology and mental wellbeing by multivariate regression analysis, controlling for age, sex, level of education, and number of chronic somatic illnesses. RESULTS: The vast majority of patients (79.0%) had one or more mental disorders in addition to personality disorder. Personality pathology was responsible for the core of the mental health burden experienced by patients, and negated the influence of co-occurring mental disorders when entered subsequently in multivariate analysis. Personality dimensions proved to be highly predictive of mental wellbeing, and this contrasted with absence of influence of personality disorder diagnosis. Although the personality functioning dimensions - and in particular Identity integration (large effect size with partial eta-squared = 0.36) - were the primary predictors of mental wellbeing, personality trait dimensions added significant predictive value to that (Disinhibition 0.25 and Negative affect 0.24). CONCLUSIONS: Personality disorders seriously affect the mental wellbeing of patients, and this overshadows the impact of comorbid mental disorders. In particular personality functioning and pathological traits of the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders (AMPD) of DSM-5 contribute to this impact on mental wellbeing. Alertness for and treatment of personality disorders in geriatric mental healthcare seems warranted.

A Feasibility Study of Group Schema Therapy with Psychomotor Therapy for Older Adults with a Cluster B or C Personality Disorder.

OBJECTIVES: Schema group therapy is an effective treatment for personality disorders, but its focus on cognitive techniques may be a limitation for older adults. This article describes the rationale and initial evaluation of a group schema therapy protocol enriched with psychomotor therapy (GST+PMT) for older adults in geriatric mental health care. METHODS: Within an observational feasibility study, we evaluated the effect of a 26-week GST+PMT program in 19 outpatients aged 60-70 years with a cluster B or C personality disorder on the Young Schema Questionnaire, Schema Mode Inventory and Manchester Short Assessment of Quality of Life. Cohen's d effect-sizes were calculated between baseline (T0), mid-treatment (T1) and end-of-treatment (T2). RESULTS: Medium to large pre-post effect-sizes (T0-T2) were found for all outcome measures. Most improvement of schema modes occurred between T0-T1, and of schemas and quality of life between T1-T2. CONCLUSIONS: Group schema therapy enriched with PMT is feasible in later life and its effect might be mediated by targeting schema modes. Future research would be helpful, including larger samples and controlled studies. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: For older adults suffering from personality disorders B or C verbal schema group therapy enriched with non-verbal PMT may be an effective treatment.

A prospective study into change of vitamin D levels, depression and frailty among depressed older persons.

OBJECTIVES: While vitamin D is involved in frailty as well as depression, hardly any study has examined the course of vitamin D levels prospectively. The objective of this study is to examine whether a change of vitamin D in depressed older adults is associated with either depression course, course of frailty, or both. METHODS: The study population consisted of 232 of 378 older adults (60-93 years) with a DSM-IV defined depressive disorder participating in the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older persons, a prospective clinical cohort study. Baseline and 2-year follow-up data on depressive disorder (DSM-IV diagnosis), symptom severity (inventory of depressive symptoms), frailty phenotype (and its individual components) and vitamin D levels were obtained. Linear mixed models were used to study the association of change in vitamin D levels with depression course, course of frailty, and the combination. RESULTS: Vitamin D levels decreased from baseline to follow-up, independent from depression course. An increase in frailty was associated with a significantly sharper decrease of vitamin D levels over time. Post hoc analyses showed that this association with frailty might be driven by an increase of exhaustion over time and counteracted by an increase in walking speed. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings generate the hypothesis that vitamin D supplementation in late-life depression may improve frailty, which may partly explain inconsistent findings of randomised controlled trials evaluating the effect of vitamin D for depression. We advocate to consider frailty (components) as an outcome in future supplementation trials in late-life depression.

Clinical characteristics of late-life depression predicting mortality.

OBJECTIVE: Depression has been associated with increased mortality rates, and modifying mechanisms have not yet been elucidated. We examined whether specific subtypes or characteristics of late-life depression predict mortality. METHODS: A cohort study including 378 depressed older patients according to DSM-IV criteria and 132 never depressed comparisons. The predictive value of depression subtypes and characteristics on the six-year mortality rate, as well as their interaction with somatic disease burden and antidepressant drug use, were studied by Cox proportional hazard analysis adjusted for demographic and lifestyle characteristics. RESULTS: Depressed persons had a higher mortality risk than non-depressed comparisons (HR = 2.95 [95% CI: 1.41-6.16], p = .004), which lost significance after adjustment for age, sex, education, smoking, alcohol, physical activity, number of prescribed medications and somatic comorbidity. Regarding depression subtypes and characteristics, only minor depression was associated with a higher mortality risk when adjusted for confounders (HR = 6.59 [95% CI: 1.79-24.2], p = .005). CONCLUSIONS: Increased mortality rates of depressed older persons seem best explained by unhealthy lifestyle characteristics and multiple drug prescriptions. The high mortality rate in minor depression, independent of these factors, might point to another, yet unknown, pathway towards mortality for this depression subtype. An explanation might be that minor depression in later life reflects depressive symptoms due to underlying aging-related processes, such as inflammation-based sickness behavior, frailty, and mild cognitive impairment, which have all been associated with increased mortality.

Vitamin D deficiency and course of frailty in a depressed older population.

Objective: To study the association between vitamin D levels and frailty, its components and course in a depressed sample.Methods: Baseline and two-year follow-up data from the depressed sample of the Netherlands Study of Depression in Older persons (NESDO), a prospective observational cohort study, were analyzed. The 378 participants (aged 60-93) had a diagnosis of depression according to DSM-IV criteria. Frailty was defined according to Fried's physical phenotype. 25-OH vitamin D measurement was performed by liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry. Linear and logistic regression analyses were performed, adjusted for covariates.Results: Higher vitamin D levels were cross-sectionally associated with lower prevalence of frailty (OR 0.64 [95%-CI 0.45 - 0.90], p = .010), predicted a lower incidence of frailty among non-frail depressed patients (OR 0.51 [95%-CI 0.26 - 1.00], p=.050), and, surprisingly, the persistence of frailty among frail depressed patients (OR 2.82 [95%-CI 1.23 - 6.49], p=.015).Conclusions: In a depressed population, higher vitamin D levels were associated with lower prevalence and incidence of frailty. Future studies should examine whether the favorable effect of low vitamin D levels on the course of frailty can be explained by confounding or whether unknown pathophysiological mechanisms may exert protective effects.

Study design of the Routine Outcome Monitoring for Geriatric Psychiatry & Science (ROM-GPS) project; a cohort study of older patients with affective disorders referred for specialised geriatric mental health care.

BACKGROUND: Affective disorders, encompassing depressive-, anxiety-, and somatic symptom disorders, are the most prevalent mental disorders in later life. Treatment protocols and guidelines largely rely on evidence from RCTs conducted in younger age samples and ignore comorbidity between these disorders. Moreover, studies in geriatric psychiatry are often limited to the "younger old" and rarely include the most frail. Therefore, the effectiveness of treatment in routine clinical care for older patients and impact of ageing characteristics is largely unknown. OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of the Routine Outcome Monitoring for Geriatric Psychiatry & Science (ROM-GPS) - project is to examine the impact of ageing characteristics on the effectiveness of treatment for affective disorders in specialised geriatric mental health care. METHODS: ROM-GPS is a two-stage, multicentre project. In stage one, all patients aged ≥60 years referred to participating outpatient clinics for specialised geriatric mental health care will be routinely screened with a semi-structured psychiatric interview, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and self-report symptom severity scales assessing depression, generalized anxiety, hypochondria, and alcohol use. Patients with a unipolar depressive, anxiety or somatic symptom disorder will be asked informed consent to participate in a second (research) stage to be extensively phenotyped at baseline and closely monitored during their first year of treatment with remission at one-year follow-up as the primary outcome parameter. In addition to a large test battery of potential confounders, specific attention is paid to cognitive functioning (including computerized tests with the Cogstate test battery as well as paper and pencil tests) and physical functioning (including multimorbidity, polypharmacy, and different frailty indicators). The study is designed as an ongoing project, enabling minor adaptations once a year (change of instruments). DISCUSSION: Although effectiveness studies using observational data can easily be biased, potential selection bias can be quantified and potentially corrected (e.g. by propensity scoring). Knowledge of age-related determinants of treatment effectiveness, may stimulate the development of new interventions. Moreover, studying late-life depressive, anxiety and somatic symptom disorders jointly enables data-driven studies for more optimal classification of these disorders in later life. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Dutch Trial Register: NL6704 ( www.trialregister.nl ). Retrospectively registered on 2017-12-05.

Risk assessment by client and case manager for shared decision making in outpatient forensic psychiatry.

BACKGROUND: In outpatient forensic psychiatry, assessment of re-offending risk and treatment needs by case managers may be hampered by an incomplete view of client functioning. The client's appreciation of his own problem behaviour is not systematically used for these purposes. The current study tests whether using a new client self-appraisal risk assessment instrument, based on the Short Term Assessment of Risk and Treatability (START), improves the assessment of re-offending risk and can support shared decision making in care planning. METHODS: In a sample of 201 outpatient forensic psychiatric clients, feasibility of client risk assessment, concordance with clinician assessment, and predictive validity of both assessments for violent or criminal behaviour were studied. RESULTS: Almost all clients (98 %) were able to fill in the instrument. Agreement between client and case manager on the key risk and protective factors of the client was poor (mean kappa for selection as key factor was 0.15 and 0.09, respectively, and mean correlation on scoring -0.18 and 0.20). The optimal prediction model for violent or criminal behaviour consisted of the case manager's structured professional risk estimate for violence in combination with the client's self-appraisal on key risk and protective factors (AUC = 0.70; 95%CI: 0.60-0.80). CONCLUSIONS: In outpatient forensic psychiatry, self-assessment of risk by the client is feasible and improves the prediction of re-offending. Clients and their case managers differ in their appraisal of key risk and protective factors. These differences should be addressed in shared care planning. The new Client Self-Appraisal based on START (CSA) risk assessment instrument can be a useful tool to facilitate such shared care planning in forensic psychiatry.

Fear generalization predicts post-traumatic stress symptoms: A two-year follow-up study in Dutch fire fighters.

INTRODUCTION: Excessive fear generalization has been associated with pathological anxiety, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, studies investigating the longitudinal relationship between generalization and the development of anxiety symptomatology are scarce. This study aims to test the predictive value of fear generalization for PTSD symptoms in a high-risk profession sample and to explore the relationship between generalization and neuroticism, which are both linked to PTSD. METHOD: Longitudinal data from a multi-wave study in 529 Dutch fire-fighters were used. Fear generalization, PTSD symptoms and neuroticism were assessed at baseline. PTSD symptoms were reevaluated at six, 12, 18, and 24 months. Generalization was assessed in a differential conditioning paradigm by measuring expectancies of an aversive outcome when presented with stimuli similar to previously conditioned stimuli. RESULTS: Higher expectancy ratings towards stimuli most similar to safety signals predicted PTSD symptoms at follow-up after controlling for baseline PTSD symptoms, whereas higher expectancy ratings towards stimuli most similar to danger signals was associated with neuroticism. Neuroticism weakened the predictive power of fear generalization when considered simultaneously. DISCUSSION: These findings suggest that heightened fear generalization is associated with the development of anxiety and trauma-related symptoms. Targeting problematic fear generalization may be a promising intervention approach.

Group schema therapy combined with psychomotor therapy for older adults with a personality disorder: an open-label, multicentre, randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Although several types of psychotherapy effectively reduce psychological distress associated with personality disorders, randomised controlled trials (RCT) have systematically excluded older patients. We aimed to examine the effectiveness of group schema therapy combined with psychomotor therapy (GST + PMT) in later life compared with treatment as usual (TAU). METHODS: We did an open-label, multicentre, RCT in eight outpatient clinics for geriatric psychiatry in the Netherlands. Adults aged 60 years or older with a full or subthreshold cluster B or C personality disorder according to DSM criteria were included and randomly assigned 1:1 to GST + PMT or TAU by an independent researcher applying a computer-generated sequence per study site when 8 to 16 patients had given informed consent; investigators and interviewers were kept blinded until end of follow-up. Included individuals received 20 weekly sessions of GST + PMT or TAU with 1 year of follow-up. The primary outcome was psychological distress, measured with the 53-item Brief Symptom Inventory. The trial was registered with International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, NTR6621. FINDINGS: Of the 145 study participants recruited between Feb 21, 2018, and Jan 21, 2020, 102 patients (median age of 69 years [IQR 63-71], 62 [61%] female) who concluded therapy before the COVID-19 pandemic (cutoff March 20, 2020) were included in the intention-to-treat analysis (51 in each study group), because COVID-19 measures substantially disrupted delivery of group therapy. GST + PMT significantly improved psychological distress compared with TAU over the 6-month treatment period (Cohen's d 0·42, 95% CI 0·16 to 0·68; p=0·0016). The pre-post effect of GST + PMT remained stable during follow-up, whereas patients receiving TAU further improved, resulting in a non-significant difference between groups at 1 year (Cohen's d 0·21, 95% CI -0·07 to 0·48; p=0·14). No patients reported adverse events. INTERPRETATION: Psychotherapy focused on personality disorders is effective in later life, resulting in a faster improvement in psychopathology than TAU. Future studies should focus on increasing effectiveness by intensifying or prolonging treatment. FUNDING: Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development. TRANSLATION: For the Dutch translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

A Systematic Review of the Heterogeneity of Schema Therapy.

We aimed to explore the heterogeneity of schema therapy regarding (a) patient characteristics, (b) content, and (c) way of delivering schema therapy. A search was conducted of the electronic databases EMBASE, PsycINFO, Web of Science, MEDLINE, and COCHRANE up to June 15, 2022. Treatment studies were eligible if they (a) used schema therapy as (component of) the intervention examined, and (b) reported an outcome measure quantitatively. A total of 101 studies met the inclusion criteria, including randomized controlled trials (n = 30), non-randomized controlled trials (n = 8), pre-post designs (n = 22), cases series (n = 13), and case reports (n = 28), including 4006 patients. Good feasibility was consistently reported irrespective of format (group versus individual), setting (outpatient, day-treatment, inpatient), intensity of treatment, and the specific therapeutic components included. Schema therapy was applied to various (psychiatric) disorders. All studies presented promising results. Effectiveness of the different models of schema therapy as well as application beyond personality disorders should be examined more rigorously.

Role of the police in linking individuals experiencing mental health crises with mental health services.

BACKGROUND: The police are considered frontline professionals in managing individuals experiencing mental health crises. This study examines the extent to which these individuals are disconnected from mental health services, and whether the police response has an influence on re-establishing contact. METHODS: Police records were searched for calls regarding individuals with acute mental health needs and police handling of these calls. Mental healthcare contact data were retrieved from a Psychiatric Case Register. RESULTS: The police were called upon for mental health crisis situations 492 times within the study year, involving 336 individuals (i.e. 1.7 per 1000 inhabitants per year). Half of these individuals (N=162) were disengaged from mental health services, lacking regular care contact in the year prior to the crisis (apart from contact for crisis intervention). In the month following the crisis, 21% of those who were previously disengaged from services had regular care contact, and this was more frequent (49%) if the police had contacted the mental health services during the crisis. The influence of police referral to the services was still present the following year. However, for the majority (58%) of disengaged individuals police did not contact the mental health services at the time of crisis. CONCLUSIONS: The police deal with a substantial number of individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, half of whom are out of contact with mental health services, and police play an important role in linking these individuals to services. Training police officers to recognise and handle mental health crises, and implementing practical models of cooperation between the police and mental health services in dealing with such crises may further improve police referral of individuals disengaged from mental health services.

Determinants of Quality of Life and Treatment Satisfaction During Long-Term Involuntary In-patient Treatment of Dual-Diagnosis Patients.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment resistance and disengagement from mental health services are major obstacles in the treatment of dual diagnosis patients with Severe Mental Illness. The patients in this study were admitted to a long-term involuntary treatment facility. AIM OF THE STUDY: To study which patient experiences and perceptions are related to the outcome measures Subjective Quality of Life (SQOL) and Treatment Satisfaction (TS) during the long-term involuntary treatment. METHODS: Patients were invited for an interview by an independent researcher, which included self-report questionnaires. The structured interviews included self-assessing Helping Alliance, Insight, Attitude toward involuntary admission, Perceived coercion and Perceived benefit were studied as determinants of SQOL and TS. The relationship between the determinants and the outcomes were analyzed by linear regression analysis. RESULTS: Patient reported outcomes from dual diagnosis patients in a long-term treatment facility, showed that most of the patients, in spite of the involuntary character of the treatment, were satisfied with the treatment. With respect to the determinants of SQOL and TS the perceptions that "My opinion is taken into account" and "Perceived benefits of the treatment" are strong predictors of both the outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The current study shows that the most important aspects for treatment satisfaction and quality of life of dual-diagnosis patients admitted involuntary to long-term treatment, are being listened to (being taken seriously) and experiencing improvements during treatment. These qualities reflect the goals of Shared Decision Making and Perceived Procedural Justice in treatment. The study also corroborates earlier findings that even when treated involuntarily, patients might not hold particular negative views regarding their treatment.

Frailty measures in immuno-metabolic subtypes of late-life depression; A two-year prospective study.

Background/Objectives - Frailty is highly prevalent with increasing age. Based on the concept of depression as a disorder of accelerated aging and its association with inflammation and metabolic dysregulation, we examined whether frailty measures at baseline and over time differed between immuno-metabolic subtypes of late-life depression. Methods - Clinical cohort study in primary and secondary mental health care with two-year follow-up. In total 359 depressed older patients (≥ 60 years) classified in four immuno-metabolic subgroups by latent profile analysis. We compared frailty measures at baseline and two-year follow-up adjusted for confounders between immuno-metabolic based depressed subgroups. Frailty measures included the frailty index, physical frailty phenotype, and two proxies (handgrip strength, gait speed). Results - At baseline, the relatively healthy depressed subgroup (n = 181) performed best on all frailty markers. While frailty markers worsened over time, the two-year course did not differ between the subgroups for any of these markers. Conclusion - The more severe immuno-metabolic dysregulation present in late-life depression, the more frail. Nonetheless, as trajectories over time did not differ between subgroups, the difference probably emerged at midlife. Future studies should examine whether geriatric assessment might become relevant at earlier ages in specialized mental health care.

Frailty and affective disorders throughout adult life: A 5-year follow-up of the Lifelines Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Frailty is an important concept for risk stratification in clinical practice, but it is hardly acknowledged at all in mental healthcare settings. This paper aims to assess the impact of frailty on the course of depression and anxiety, and the impact of these affective disorders on the course of frailty. METHODS: Lifelines, a prospective population-based cohort study, evaluated 167,729 people living in the northern Netherlands. Frailty was based on the deficit accumulation model, which resulted in a 60-item frailty index (FI) at baseline and a 35-item FI at baseline and 5-year follow-up. Current depressive and anxiety disorders were assessed with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview according to DSM-IV criteria. Bidirectional associations between frailty and affective disorders were investigated using separate multivariable regression analyses in younger (<60 years) and older adults (≥60 years). RESULTS: The FI was associated with the onset of a depressive disorder (younger adults: odds ratio [OR] = 1.12; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.11-1.13; older adults: OR = 1.13; 95% CI 1.09-1.16) as well as any anxiety disorder (younger adults: OR = 1.10; 95% CI 1.09-1.10; older adults: OR = 1.07; 95% CI 1.04-1.09). The other way around, depressive disorder and anxiety disorders were associated with an accelerated increase of frailty over time (depressive disorder: younger adults: beta [ß] = 0.03, p < 0.001; older adults: ß = 0.04, p < 0.001; and any anxiety disorder: younger adults: ß = 0.02, p < 0.001; older adults: ß = 0.01, p < 0.142), although the effect of anxiety disorders was less equivocal among older adults. CONCLUSIONS: Affective disorders are reciprocally related to frailty. Results with respect to the impact of anxiety disorders on frailty suggest most impact at lower levels of frailty. Our results might imply that interventions to slow biological aging should be broadened towards younger and middle-aged people as well as non-frail older patients. To develop targeted treatment, future clinical and epidemiologic studies on the underlying pathways of this bidirectional association are needed.

Non-uniform effectiveness of structured patient-clinician communication in community mental healthcare: an international comparison.

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness of psychosocial interventions in community mental healthcare has been shown to depend on the setting in which they are implemented. Recently structured patient-clinician communication was found to be effective in a multi-centre trial in six European countries, the DIALOG trial. In the overall study, differences between centres were controlled for, not studied. Here, we test whether the effectiveness of structured patient-clinician communication varies between services in different countries, and explore setting characteristics associated with outcome. METHODS: The study is part of the DIALOG trial, which included 507 patients with schizophrenia or related disorder, treated by 134 keyworkers. The keyworkers were allocated to intervention or treatment as usual. RESULTS: Positive effects were found on quality of life (effect size 0.20: 95% CI 0.01-0.39) and treatment satisfaction (0.27: 0.06-0.47) in all centres, but reductions in unmet needs for care were only seen in two centres (-0.83 and -0.60), and in positive, negative and general symptoms in one (-0.87, -0.78, -0.87). The intervention was most effective in settings with patient populations with many unmet needs for care and high symptom levels. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial interventions in community mental healthcare may not be assumed to have uniform effectiveness across settings. Differences in patient population served and mental healthcare provided, should be studied for their influence on the effectiveness of the intervention. Structured patient-clinician communication has a uniform effect on quality of life and treatment satisfaction, but on unmet needs for care and symptom levels its effect differs between mental healthcare settings.

Adverse health outcomes in vitamin D supplementation trials for depression: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Vitamin D deficiency is a universal risk factor for adverse health outcomes. Since depression is consistently associated with low vitamin D levels as well as several adverse health outcomes, vitamin D supplementation may be especially relevant for depressed persons. This review examines the potential benefits of vitamin D for (somatic) health outcomes in randomised controlled supplementation trials for depression. METHOD: Systematic literature search to assess whether adverse health outcomes, such as frailty, falls, or cognitive functioning, were included in vitamin D supplementation trials for depression, and whether these outcomes were affected by supplementation. The revised Cochrane tool for assessing risk of bias in randomised trials was used. RESULTS: Thirty-one trials were included. Adverse health outcomes were considered in five studies. Two studies reported some beneficial effect on an adverse health outcome. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: While depressed persons are at increased risk of vitamin D deficiency, supplementation trials hardly addressed the common negative health consequences of low vitamin D levels as secondary outcome measures. Well-designed trials of the effects of vitamin D supplementation in late-life depression should explore whether adverse health outcomes can be prevented or stabilised, and whether depression benefits from this improvement.

Routine violence risk assessment in community forensic mental healthcare.

We developed a method for periodic monitoring of violence risk, as part of routine community forensic mental healthcare. The feasibility of the method was tested, as well as its predictive validity for violent and risk enhancing behavior in the subsequent months. Participants were 83 clients who received forensic psychiatric home treatment, and six case managers. The method proved feasible and informative. Violent and risk enhancing behavior could be predicted to a reasonable extent (AUC = .77, 95% CI = .70-.85; respectively .76, .70-.82). Dynamic risk factors had an incremental predictive value over static factors in the prediction of violent behavior (OR = 4.30, 1.72-10.73). The professional judgment of the case managers added further predictive power (OR = 2.16, 1.40-3.33), corroborating the structured professional judgment approach. Finally, unmet needs for care of the client were associated with a reduced risk for violent and risk enhancing behavior (OR = .80, 0.69-0.93, and 0.84, 0.72-0.97). This latter finding suggests that in cases with unmet needs the case manager saw opportunities to do something about the risk. Currently we are testing whether using the method actually prevents violence.

A Cross-National Analysis of the Psychometric Properties of the Geriatric Anxiety Inventory.

OBJECTIVES: Assessing late-life anxiety using an instrument with sound psychometric properties including cross-cultural invariance is essential for cross-national aging research and clinical assessment. To date, no cross-national research studies have examined the psychometric properties of the frequently used Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI) in depth. METHOD: Using data from 3,731 older adults from 10 national samples (Australia, Brazil, Canada, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Singapore, Thailand, and United States), this study used bifactor modeling to analyze the dimensionality of the GAI. We evaluated the "fitness" of individual items based on the explained common variance for each item across all nations. In addition, a multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was applied, testing for measurement invariance across the samples. RESULTS: Across samples, the presence of a strong G factor provides support that a general factor is of primary importance, rather than subfactors. That is, the data support a primarily unidimensional representation of the GAI, still acknowledging the presence of multidimensional factors. A GAI score in one of the countries would be directly comparable to a GAI score in any of the other countries tested, perhaps with the exception of Singapore. DISCUSSION: Although several items demonstrated relatively weak common variance with the general factor, the unidimensional structure remained strong even with these items retained. Thus, it is recommended that the GAI be administered using all items.