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Abstract Background Psychiatric disorders increase risk of neuropsychiatric disease and poor outcomes, yet little is known about the neuropsychiatric manifestations of COVID-19 in the psychiatric population. The primary objective is to synthesize neuropsychiatric outcomes of COVID-19 in people with preexisting psychiatric disorders. Methods Data were collected during an ongoing review of the impact of pandemics on people with existing psychiatric disorders. All study designs and gray literature were included. Medline, PsychInfo, CINAHL, EMBASE, and MedRx were searched from inception to September 1 2020. Risk of bias was assessed using a published tool that can accommodate all study types. Two independent authors screened the studies and extracted data. Data were narratively synthesized, as there were insufficient data to meta-analyze. Evidence was appraised according to GRADE. Results Four case reports were included, comprising 13 participants from three countries. Many large-sample, relevant papers were omitted for not reporting psychiatric history, despite reporting other comorbidities. Included participants (n = 13) were hospitalized with COVID-19 and appeared to meet criteria for delirium. Myoclonus, rigidity, and alogia were also reported. The most commonly reported preexisting psychiatric diagnoses were mood disorders, schizophrenia, and alcohol use disorder. Conclusions People with preexisting psychiatric disorders may experience delirium, rigidity, myoclonus, and alogia during COVID-19 infection; although higher quality and longitudinal data are needed to better understand these phenomena. Relevant COVID-19 literature does not always report psychiatric history, despite heightened neuropsychiatric vulnerability within this population. Trial Registration: PROSPERO (CRD42020179611).

Abstract Background Previous studies have shown that stigma is a major barrier to participation in psychiatric research and that individuals who participate in psychiatric research may differ clinically and demographically from non-participants. However, few studies have explored research recruitment and retention challenges in the context of personality disorders. Aim To provide an analysis of the factors affecting participant recruitment and retention in a study of borderline personality disorder among general psychiatric inpatients. Methods Adult inpatients in a tertiary psychiatric hospital were approached about participating in a cross-sectional study of borderline personality disorder. Recruitment rates, retention rates, and reasons for declining participation or withdrawing from the study were collected. Demographic characteristics were compared between participants and non-participants and between patients who remained in the study and those who withdrew. Results A total of 71 participants were recruited into the study between January 2018 and March 2020. Recruitment and retention rates were 45% and 70%, respectively. Lack of interest was the most commonly cited reason for non-participation, followed by scheduling conflicts and concerns regarding mental/physical well-being. Age and sex were not predictors of study participation or retention. Conclusions More research is needed to explore patients’ perspectives and attitudes towards borderline personality disorder diagnosis and research, determine effects of different recruitment strategies, and identify clinical predictors of recruitment and retention in personality disorder research.

Background Suicidal behaviour remains a major public health concern and countries have responded by authoring guidelines to help mitigate death by suicide. Guidelines can include family-based recommendations, but evidence for the level and category of family-based involvement that is needed to effectively prevent suicide is unclear. Aims To explore the association between family-based recommendations in guidelines and countries’ crude suicide rates. PROSPERO registration: CRD42019130195. Method MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, Web of Science and WHO MiNDbank databases and grey literature were searched within the past 20 years (1 January 2000 to 22 June 2020) for national guidelines giving family-based recommendations in any of three categories (prevention, intervention and postvention). Results We included 63 guidelines from 46 countries. All identified guidelines included at least one family-based recommendation. There were no statistically significant differences seen between mean World Health Organization crude suicide rates for countries that included only one, two or all three categories of family-based recommendations. However, a lower spread of crude suicide rates was seen when guideline recommendations included all three categories (mean crude suicide rates for one category: 11.09 (s.d. = 5.71); for two categories: 13.42 (s.d. = 7.76); for three categories: 10.68 (s.d. = 5.20); P = 0.478). Conclusions Countries should work towards a comprehensive national suicide guideline that includes all categories of family-based recommendations. Countries with previously established guidelines should work towards the inclusion of evidence-based recommendations that have clear implementation plans to potentially help lower suicide rates.

Housing is a pervasive determinant of physical and mental health. Studies indicate the importance of social support to the mental and physical health of individuals who are unhoused; however, to date, little is known about this relationship in persons who are housed in unaffordable accommodations. As the demand for subsidized housing continues to increase far beyond sustainable levels in many countries, investigations of the implications of social support on the health and wellbeing of those waiting for access to subsidized accommodations becomes important to generate evidence-based policy responses. Using data from the NB Housing Study, this paper presents an analysis of the relationships between perceived social support, depression, and self-reported physical health in individuals who wait for access to subsidized housing in New Brunswick, Canada ( n = 271). Hierarchical linear regression of Oslo Social Support Scale (OSSS-3) scores on Centre for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale 10 (CES-D-10) scores and of OSSS-3 scores on self-reported physical health scores finds increases in social support are associated with decreased depression ( F [1, 260] = 26.34, p

A growing body of research has focused on the utility of adaptive intervention models for promoting long-term weight loss maintenance; however, evaluation of these interventions often requires customized smartphone applications. Building such an app from scratch can be resource-intensive. To support a novel clinical trial of an adaptive intervention for weight loss maintenance, we developed a companion app, MyTrack+, to pair with a main commercial app, FatSecret (FS), leveraging a user-centered design process for rapid prototyping and reducing software engineering efforts. MyTrack+ seamlessly integrates data from FS and the BodyTrace smart scale, enabling participants to log and self-monitor their health data, while also incorporating customized questionnaires and timestamps to enhance data collection for the trial. We iteratively refined the app by first developing initial mockups and incorporating feedback from a usability study with 17 university students. We further improved the app based on an in-the-wild pilot study with 33 participants in the target population, emphasizing acceptance, simplicity, customization options, and dual app usage. Our work highlights the potential of using an iterative human-centered design process to build a companion app that complements a commercial app for rapid prototyping, reducing costs, and enabling efficient research progress.