Rationale, component description and pilot evaluation of a physical health promotion measure for people with mental disorders across Europe

Introduction: The HELPS project aimed at developing a toolkit for the promotion of physical health in people with mental disorders to reduce the substantial excess morbidity and mortality in the target group. Methods: The HELPS toolkit was developed by means of national and international literature reviews, Delphi rounds with mental health experts and focus groups with mental health experts and patients/ residents in 14 European countries. The toolkit was translated into the languages of all participating countries, and usability of toolkit modules was tested. Results: The toolkit consists of several modules addressing diverse somatic health problems, lifestyle, environment issues, patient goals and motivation for health-promotion measures. It aims at empowering people with mental illness and staff to identify physical health risks in their specific contexts and to select the most appropriate modules from a range of health promotion tools. Discussion: The HELPS project used an integrative approach to the development of simple tools for the target population and is available online in 14 European languages. Preliminary evidence suggests that the toolkit can be used in routine care settings and should be put to test in controlled trials to reveal its potential impact

Financial Conflict of Interest in Clinical Psychiatry Studies: A Review

WOS: 000262191400011PubMed ID: 19110984Pharmaceutical industry revenues from global pharmaceutical sales have increased 7% to $602 billion in 2005. Approximately 15% of these revenues were spent on clinical research and drug development studies. Because of the huge budget allocated to research and development studies the number of studies being conducted by pharmaceutical companies has increased. The impact of the pharmaceutical industry on clinical trials has been affected by financial conflicts of interest between researchers and the industry. Conflict of interest refers to a situation in which it appears that a researcher's personal financial interest could significantly affect the design, conduct, and/or reporting of such research. Financial conflict of interest has been reported to be frequent in clinical trials in general medicine. It is estimated that 89%-98% of comparative drug treatment studies are funded by pharmaceutical companies. It was reported that favorable outcomes for the firms conducting these studies were significantly more common in industry-funded studies than in non-industry funded ones. These biased outcomes were due to conscious or unconscious decisions about the design, data analysis, and publishing of the studies. Biased outcomes of industry-funded studies have diminished the integrity of academic institutions, pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and scientific journals; therefore, various precautions have been taken in order to reduce the effect of conflict of interest on study outcomes. The aim of this review was to evaluate the effect of conflict of interest on outcomes in clinical psychiatry studies

HIGH PREVALENCE OF PSYCHOSIS CONTINUUM IN A HIGHLY URBANIZED AREA OF TURKEY: TURKSCH STUDY

2nd Conference of the Schizophrenia-International-Research-Society (SIRS) -- APR 10-14, 2010 -- Florence, ITALYWOS: 000276936801175Schizophrenia Int Res So