Panic disorder in rural Tanzania: an explorative study

Objective: Common mental disorders constitute a considerable disease burden in low-income countries, and there is a need for acceptable and effective brief interventions for such disorders in low-income countries. This article examines cultural based interpretations of the diagnosis of panic disorder (PD) in a rural Tanzanian hospital setting through clinical work. It also examines how to adapt and apply brief cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) interventions to this setting. Method: A qualitative analysis of clinical data from ten participants in a hospital-setting in rural Tanzania. Results: The analysis suggests that the diagnosis of PD is relevant to this rural Tanzanian setting. Patients, relatives, and health personnel at the hospital accepted brief CBT interventions for PD and regarded psychoeducational information to patients as especially useful. Conclusion: A manual for brief interventions for PD may be adapted to a rural Tanzanian setting, also taking into consideration the limited financial and human resources in a rural low-income country setting.Keywords: Panic disorder; Culture; Cognitive behaviour therapy; Low-income countr

A comparison of the illness beliefs of people with angina and their peers: a questionnaire study

BACKGROUND: What people believe about their illness may affect how they cope with it. It has been suggested that such beliefs stem from those commonly held within society . This study compared the beliefs held by people with angina, regarding causation and coping in angina, with the beliefs of their friends who do not suffer from angina. METHODS: Postal survey using the York Angina Beliefs Questionnaire (version 1), which elicits stress attributions and misconceived beliefs about causation and coping. This was administered to 164 people with angina and their non-cohabiting friends matched for age and sex. 132 people with angina and 94 friends completed the questionnaire. RESULTS: Peers are more likely than people with angina to believe that angina is caused by a worn out heart (p <0.01), angina is a small heart attack (p = 0.02), and that it causes permanent damage to the heart (p <0.001). Peers were also more likely to believe that people with angina should take life easy (p <0.01) and avoid exercise (p = 0.04) and excitement (p <0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The beliefs of the peer group about causation and coping in angina run counter to professional advice. Over time this may contribute to a reduction in patient concordance with risk factor reduction, and may help to create cardiac invalids

The impact of aerobic fitness on functioning in chronic back pain

Despite lack of convincing evidence that reduced aerobic fitness is associated with chronic back pain (CBP), exercise programs are regarded as being effective for persons with non-specific CBP. It is unsure whether gain in aerobic fitness following intervention is associated with functioning improvement in persons with CBP. The objective of this prospective cohort study was to study the impact of aerobic fitness on functioning in persons with CBP, at baseline and following 3-week intensive interdisciplinary intervention. This study included persons who had passed 8 weeks of sick-listing because of back pain (n = 94) and were referred to a 3-week intensive biopsychosocial rehabilitation program. Aerobic fitness was assessed with a sub-maximal bicycle test at baseline, at admission to and discharge from the rehabilitation program, and at 6 months follow-up. Contextual factors, body function, activity and participation were evaluated before and after intervention. In addition, working ability was recorded at 3-years follow-up. At baseline aerobic fitness was reduced in most subjects, but improved significantly following intervention. Baseline measurements and intervention effects did not differ among the diagnostic sub-groups. Neither contextual factors nor functioning at baseline were associated with aerobic fitness. Increase in aerobic fitness was not associated with improvements in functioning and contextual factors and work-return following intervention either. From this study we conclude that improvement of aerobic fitness seems of limited value as goal of treatment outcome for patients with CBP

Prompt mental health care, the Norwegian version of IAPT: clinical outcomes and predictors of change in a multicenter cohort study

Background Prompt mental health care (PMHC) is a Norwegian initiative, inspired by the English ‘Improving Access to Psychological Therapy’ (IAPT), aimed to provide low-threshold access to primary care treatment for persons with symptoms of anxiety and depression. The objectives of the present study are to describe the PMHC service, to examine changes in symptoms of anxiety and depression following treatment and to identify predictors of change, using data from the 12 first pilot sites. Methods A prospective cohort design was used. All participants were asked to complete questionnaires at baseline, before each treatment session and at the end of treatment. Effect sizes (ES) for pre-post changes and recovery rates were calculated based on the Patient Health Questionnaire and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale. Multiple imputation (MI) was used in order to handle missing data. We examined predictors through latent difference score models and reported the contribution of each predictor level in terms of ES. Results In total, N = 2512 clients received treatment at PMHC between October 2014 and December 2016, whereof 61% consented to participate. The changes from pre- to post-treatment were large for symptoms of both depression (ES = 1.1) and anxiety (ES = 1.0), with an MI-based reliable recovery rate of 58%. The reliable recovery rate comparable to IAPT based on last-observation-carried-forward was 48%. The strongest predictors for less improvement were having immigrant background (ES change depression − 0.27, ES change anxiety − 0.26), being out of work at baseline (ES change depression − 0.18, ES change anxiety − 0.35), taking antidepressants (ES change anxiety − 0.36) and reporting bullying as cause of problems (ES change depression − 0.29). Taking sleep medication did on the other hand predict more improvement (ES change depression 0.23, ES change anxiety 0.45). Conclusions Results in terms of clinical outcomes were promising, compared to both the IAPT pilots and other benchmark samples. Though all groups of clients showed substantial improvements, having immigrant background, being out of work, taking antidepressant medication and reporting bullying as cause stood out as predictors of poorer treatment response. Altogether, PMHC was successfully implemented in Norway. Areas for improvement of the service are discussed