Mersey Care authors

BACKGROUND: Dependent alcohol drinkers exhibit differences in the structure and function of the brain, and impairments in cognitive function, including executive functions (EFs). Less is known about the impact of non-dependent but hazardous use (that which raises the risk of harm), and it is also unclear to what extent executive impairments in this cohort affect real-world function. The current study examines the relationship between alcohol use, EF and alcohol-related problems, in the general population...

OBJECTIVE: The anticipatory prescribing of pro re nata medications and continuous subcutaneous infusion (CSCI) medication is essential for the timely management of symptomatic patients at the end of life. There is no evidence to support the safety or appropriateness of anticipatory CSCIs. In 2013, in response to safety concerns about end of life prescribing in the community, we designed an educational intervention to improve prescribing practices among non-specialist prescribers in this area...

Mental health nursing is a skilled profession, well positioned to support patients towards recovery with evidence-based therapeutic interventions. However, the profession continues to be challenged by tensions surrounding the delivery of restrictive interventions and concerns over tendencies towards defensive practices. This paper examines the ambiguity this creates within the mental health nursing role. Organizational cultures that overvalue metrics and administrative tasks create barriers for therapeutic engagement while contributing to role confusion and stress within nursing...

AIM: To understand the relationship between serious mental illness and oral health self-care behaviours using meta-analytic methods and a narrative synthesis of available literature. METHOD: The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses guidelines [PROSPERO reference: CRD42020176779]. Search terms pertaining to serious mental illness and oral health were entered into EMBASE, PsycINFO, Medline and CINAHL. Eligible studies included a sample of people with a serious mental illness and a quantitative measure of an oral health self-care behaviour (e...

AIMS AND METHOD: A series of eleven patients prescribed intramuscular clozapine at five UK sites is presented. Using routinely collected clinical data, we describe the use, efficacy and safety of this treatment modality. RESULTS: We administered 188 doses of intramuscular clozapine to eight patients. The remaining three patients accepted oral medication. With the exception of minor injection site pain and nodules, side-effects were as expected with oral clozapine, and there were no serious untoward events...

This paper is based on Helen Kiely's Masters dissertation on MA in Library and Information Service Management, successfully completed at the University of Sheffield in 2018. The aim of the study was to explore the extent to which users of a health care library service understood common terminology used by clinical librarians/information professionals. A survey was developed based on the terminology used for common services and was distributed to staff and students at an acute NHS Foundation Trust. One hundred and eight people participated over a four week period and were asked to provide definitions to the terms...

BACKGROUND: Brief psychological therapies may be helpful for people who have recently self-harmed. The current paper reports on a service evaluation of a novel brief therapy service based within an Emergency Department, Hospital Outpatient Psychotherapy Engagement (HOPE) Service. This service combines elements of psychodynamic interpersonal and cognitive analytic therapy to help people who present with self-harm-related difficulties. The primary aim of this service evaluation was to ascertain the feasibility of HOPE in terms of attendance rates...

More than six decades have passed since the discovery of monoaminergic antidepressants. Yet, it remains a mystery why these drugs take weeks to months to achieve therapeutic effects, although their monoaminergic actions are present rapidly after treatment. In an attempt to solve this mystery, rather than studying the acute neurochemical effects of antidepressants, here we propose focusing on the early changes in the brain functional connectome using traditional statistics and machine learning approaches. Capitalizing on three independent datasets (n = 1,261) and recent developments in data and network science, we identified a specific connectome fingerprint that predates and predicts response to monoaminergic antidepressants...

BACKGROUND: People live socially complex lives and have different health care needs influenced by socio-economic factors such as deprivation, unemployment, and poor housing. Lack of access to community based social care results in people seeking social support from health care services. This study explores the Life Rooms as a social prescribing model addressing the social determinants of mental health by providing support and access to resources in a local community setting. With an aim to identify key elements that contribute toward enhancing the effectiveness of the Life Rooms social prescribing approach...

Dementia affects majority of older residents in nursing homes and physiotherapists are regularly involved with this population. However, little is known about the role of physiotherapists who treat residents with dementia in nursing homes. The aim of this paper was to report on an interpretivist qualitative exploration of the perceptions of both the providers of and referrers to domiciliary physiotherapy for residents with dementia in nursing homes in London. In 2015, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 purposively sampled participants - two were providers of physiotherapy for residents with dementia in nursing homes, five were referrers to these providers and three occupied dual roles...

BACKGROUND: Structured assessments have been shown to assist professionals to evaluate the risk of aggression in secure services for general offender populations and more recently among adults with intellectual disabilities. There is a need to develop intellectual disability sensitive measures for predicting risk of aggression in community samples, especially tools with a focus on dynamic variables. METHODS: The study prospectively followed 28 participants for up to 2 months to test whether the Current Risk of Violence (CuRV) and Short Dynamic Risk Scale (SDRS) were able to predict verbal and physical aggression in a community sample of adults with intellectual disability...

In this experimental study, 89 participants were allocated to an offending pedophile, nonoffending pedophile, or control video condition. They then watched two short help-seeking video clips of an older male and a younger male (counterbalanced). Judgments about each male were assessed, as were general attitudes toward pedophiles and sexual offenders. Offending pedophiles were judged as more deserving of punishment than the nonoffending pedophiles and controls. Age of the male was found to have an effect on judgments of dangerousness...

Contemporary leadership theory is based on the dynamic processes that occur between leaders and followers. One such theory is inclusive leadership, which is a person-centred approach that focuses on the empowerment and development of followers. It has roots in other leadership theories such as transformational leadership, but there are distinguishing features. This review discusses these features and presents a case study. Inclusive leadership is also viewed in the context of diversity, organizational culture and innovation...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: High drug related mortality amongst former prisoners in the 4 weeks following release is an internationally recognised problem. Naltrexone injections at release could diminish this by blockading opioid receptors, but naltrexone is not licensed for injection for treating opiate misuse in the United Kingdom and some other countries. This study examined the likelihood of accepting a naltrexone injection at release, and the relationship of this likelihood to other relevant variables...

Background: Identifying the neural correlates of ketamine treatment may facilitate and expedite the development of novel, robust, and safe rapid-acting antidepressants. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) global brain connectivity with global signal regression (GBCr) was recently identified as a putative biomarker of major depressive disorder (MDD). Accumulating evidence have repeatedly shown reduced PFC GBCr in MDD, an abnormality which appears to normalize following ketamine treatment. Methods: Fifty-six unmedicated participants with MDD were randomized to intravenous placebo (normal saline; n = 18), ketamine (0...

BACKGROUND: Cardiometabolic health significantly impacts on the mortality of people with severe mental illness. Clozapine has the greatest efficacy for Treatment Resistant Schizophrenia (TRS) but the greatest negative impact on cardiometabolic health. Balancing the risks and benefits of treatment, dignity, autonomy, liberty, mental and physical health can be challenging, particularly when imposing interventions with potentially life threatening adverse events, such as clozapine. We describe the successful administration of clozapine in the face of myocardial infarction, pulmonary embolism and hyperlipidaemia resulting in the termination of long-term seclusion for a gentleman with TRS in high secure psychiatric services...

OBJECTIVES: Many individuals hold different beliefs about the voices that they hear and have distinct relationships with them, the nature of which may determine the distress experienced. Understanding what factors contribute to these beliefs and relationships and consequently the resulting distress is important. The current research examined whether shame and social deprivation, in a sample of adult voice-hearers, were related to the relationships that individuals had with their voices or the beliefs that they held about them...

Three preliminary and linked studies investigate the impact of making alterations to factors considered relevant to engaging in and experiencing intra-group aggression (bullying) among adult male patients detained in a single secure forensic hospital. Study one (n = 44) outlines the institutional factors, attitudes towards bullying and environmental factors that increase the likelihood of engaging in bullying and/or being victimised. Study two (n = 53 patients and 167 staff) assesses the effect of three variations of intervention that aimed to reduce intra-group aggression through direct alteration of the physical and psychosocial environment, using data from both patients and staff...

PURPOSE: The contribution of environmental and organisational factors in predicting security incidents within a high secure male psychiatric setting is considered using a series of connected studies; a systematic literature review comprising 41 studies and five inquiries (Study 1) to identify core themes of likely importance; application of these themes to incident data through assessment of the ward culture, as perceived by 73 male psychiatric patients and 157 staff (Study 2); and detailed examination of noted relevant factors in the form of interpersonal style, meaningful activity and physical environmental characteristics in a study comprising 62 patients and 151 staff (Study 3)...

In 2013 the Federal Government of Somalia contacted the Mersey Care National Health Service Foundation Trust (MCFT), asking whether they could formulate a teaching programme tailored towards improving mental health provision in Somalia, and the E-learning Mental Health Training Programme (SOM-Health) was eventually conceived. The fundamental aim was to provide mental health awareness to practitioners and trainees in Somalia so that they could deliver mental healthcare services confidently and effectively.