Psychosocial Occupational Therapy Interventions for Substance-Use Disorders: A Narrative Review

The review was conducted to explore psychosocial interventions for adults with substance-use disorders. A refined literature focus was placed on articles published by occupational therapists, or articles published by an allied health professional, that discussed occupational therapy performing the intervention. Ten articles met inclusion criteria, all focusing on aspects of life skills training. Study results support the professions’ ability to enhance functional independence and occupational performance for individuals recovering from substance use. Further, a more controlled investigation is warranted to further define occupational therapy’s scope within substance-use disorder treatment.     

How perceptions influence young drivers' intentions to participate in gamified schemes

This study investigates how perceptions may influence young drivers' intentions to participate in a gamified scheme designed to encourage safer driving behaviours. In doing so, this study offers useful insights into how to design effective and appealing gamified interventions for young drivers. Specifically, the study analyses responses from a survey of young drivers in Queensland, Australia. In all, the key results indicate to researchers and practitioners seeking to implement gamified schemes that they should remain cognisant of satisfying an individual’s perceptions of ease-of-use. Further, affecting behavioural intentions, distinct from attitudes, is crucial to an individual’s adoption of a gamified scheme. Finally, while the findings reinforce the role of ‘practical’ decision making; they also reveal, that an absence of ‘fun’ or ‘joy’ can play a role in decision making. These findings indicate that nurturing joy and happiness is a worthy, useful and admirable endeavour for transport planners, economists and policy makers. It is a research agenda pertinent to the realisation of behavioural changes and to the promotion of societal welfare more broadly.     

Counting blessings in early adolescents: An experimental study of gratitude and subjective well-being

The development and manifestation of gratitude in youth is unclear. We examined the effects of a grateful outlook on subjective well-being and other outcomes of positive psychological functioning in 221 early adolescents. Eleven classes were randomly assigned to either a gratitude, hassles, or control condition. Results indicated that counting blessings was associated with enhanced self-reported gratitude, optimism, life satisfaction, and decreased negative affect. Feeling grateful in response to aid mediated the relationship between experimental condition and general gratitude at the 3-week follow-up. The most significant finding was the robust relationship between gratitude and satisfaction with school experience at both the immediate post-test and 3-week follow-up. Counting blessings seems to be an effective intervention for well-being enhancement in early adolescents.     

Looking forward and back: Sexual victimization prevention

The field of sexual victimization prevention has been greatly shaped by societal movements of the past forty years. The social forces that have driven the study of sexual victimization have led to major research gaps which may be viewed as opportunities for new focuses. This paper will: (1) review these social movements in light of the opportunities that have arisen, (2) re-evaluate the information that has been collected in light of the research purpose, preventing harm to potential victims through providing tailored prevention messages, victim sensitive avenues of reporting, and individualized intervention tactics based on personality characteristics, and (3) provide a framework with which to conceptualize normative personality in relation to the process of victimization-related trauma. Although research has provided many insights into the basic principles of prevention, much remains to be explored.     

Increasing well-being through teaching goal-setting and planning skills: results of a brief intervention

Many factors are known to be associated with psychological well-being. However, it is much less clear whether those factors actually cause well-being and, hence, whether there is any practical value in trying to manipulate those factors to increase well-being. The proposed study addresses both the theoretical and practical issues by testing the effectiveness of an empirically-derived, brief psychological intervention to increase well-being in a non-clinical, unselected sample. The intervention focused on developing goal setting and planning (GAP) skills, which are known to be linked to well-being, potentially have widespread effects, and are amenable to intervention. Within a quasi-experimental design, participants received three, 1-h, group sessions (Study 1) or completed the programme individually in their own time (Study 2). Those taking part in the intervention, both individually and in a group, showed significant increases in subjective well-being, compared to their respective control groups not receiving the intervention. The results provide preliminary support for the view that (a) goal setting and planning skills have a causal link to subjective well-being and (b) that such skills can be learned to enhance well-being.

Parents Plus Systemic,Solution‐Focused Parent Training Programs: Description,Review of the Evidence Base,and Meta‐Analysis

Parents Plus (PP) programs are systemic, solution‐focused, group‐based interventions. They are designed for delivery in clinical and community settings as treatment programs for families with child‐focused problems, such as behavioral difficulties, disruptive behavior disorders, and emotional disorders in young people with and without developmental disabilities. PP programs have been developed for families of preschoolers, preadolescent children, and teenagers, as well as for separated or divorced families. Seventeen evaluation studies involving over 1,000 families have shown that PP programs have a significant impact on child behavior problems, goal attainment, and parental satisfaction and stress. The effect size of 0.57 (p < .001) from a meta‐analysis of 10 controlled studies for child behavior problems compares favorably with those of meta‐analyses of other well‐established parent training programs with large evidence bases. In controlled studies, PP programs yielded significant (p < .001) effect sizes for goal attainment (d = 1.51), parental satisfaction (d = 0.78), and parental stress reduction (d = 0.54). PP programs may be facilitated by trained front‐line mental health and educational professionals.     

A Randomized Controlled Trial of Coach Contact During a Brief Online Intervention for Distressed Couples

The negative impacts of relationship distress on the couple, the family, and the individual are well‐known. However, couples are often unable to access effective treatments to combat these effects—including many couples who might be at highest risk for relationship distress. Online self‐help interventions decrease the barriers to treatment and provide couples with high quality, research‐based programs they can do on their own. Using a combined multiple baseline and randomized design, the present study investigated the effectiveness of the Brief OurRelationship.com (Brief‐OR) program with and without staff support in improving relationship distress and individual functioning. Results indicated the program produced significant gains in several areas of relationship functioning; however, these gains were smaller in magnitude than those observed in Full‐OR. Furthermore, effects of Brief‐OR were not sustained over follow‐up. Comparisons between couples randomized to Brief‐OR with and without contact with a staff coach indicated that coach contact significantly reduced program noncompletion and improved program effects. Limitations and future directions are discussed.     

Introduction to the Special Section: Advances in psychological prevention and treatment interventions to promote children's mental health

This paper introduces the Special Section on Advances in Psychological Prevention and Treatment Interventions to Promote Children's Mental Health. The three articles in the Special Section provide perspectives on the adaptation, evaluation, and implementation of evidence‐based psychological interventions for children in countries in Northern and Eastern Europe, and Latin America. The articles highlight disparate methodologies for the examination of intervention data, including addressing causal inference in the absence of availability of true experiment data (i.e., randomised controlled trial data), randomised trial data from a school‐based prevention programme, and predictors of change in an evidence‐based treatment programme. Together, the articles highlight the movement of evidence‐based practices into routine care settings and emerging strategies for settings in which randomised trial data are not yet available. They demonstrate the contribution of psychological research to the advancement of practices for improving children's mental health.     

Promotion of Civic Engagement with the Family Leadership Training Institute

In this efficacy study, both quantitative and qualitative data were used to gauge the effects of the Family Leadership Training Institute (FLTI) on civic knowledge and empowerment, civic engagement, and community health. The sample of 847 FLTI participants and 166 comparison adults completed pretest and posttest surveys. Medium to very large short‐term effects were observed in civic literacy, empowerment, and engagement. Results mapping interviews were conducted with a stratified random sample of FLTI graduates (n = 52) to assess long‐term (M = 2.73 years) program impact. Most FLTI graduates (86%) sustained meaningful, sometimes transformative, levels of civic engagement after program completion. This engagement involved multiple forms of leadership, most often advocacy, program implementation, and media campaigns; 63% of graduates directed at least some of their activities to marginalized populations. Content analyses of graduates' civic (capstone) projects and results mapping story maps indicated that 81–90% of community activities aligned with public health priorities. Thus, one promising means to promote community health is to empower families to develop leadership skills, become engaged in civic life, and forge connections with diverse constituents.     

Critical Time Intervention for Homeless People Making the Transition to Community Living: A Randomized Controlled Trial

To help create an evidence base in Europe for effective interventions that improve the well‐being of homeless people, we tested whether critical time intervention (CTI), a time‐limited intervention developed to support vulnerable people during times of transition, is effective outside the United States. For this multicenter, parallel‐group randomized controlled trial, 183 adults who were moving from shelters in the Netherlands to supported or independent housing were allocated to CTI or care‐as‐usual. The primary outcome was number of days rehoused, which was assessed by interviewing participants four times during a 9‐month follow‐up. Outcomes were analyzed with three‐level mixed‐effects models. The primary outcome did not differ between groups. CTI had a significant effect on family support and, for people experiencing less social support, psychological distress. Groups did not differ significantly on social support, fulfillment of care needs, quality of life, self‐esteem, excessive alcohol use, or cannabis use. Because few participants were homeless at 9 months, more research is needed to establish whether CTI can prevent long‐term recurrent homelessness. Given recent emphasis on informal support in public services and positive effects of CTI on family support and psychological distress, CTI is a fitting intervention for Dutch shelter services.