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This paper reports follow-up findings for an Mentalization based treatment (MBT) parenting intervention delivered to a community mental health sample. Parents completed the 12-week version of the Lighthouse Parenting Program (LPP) and were evaluated on parenting practices, parent-child relationships, parental mental health indicators, and child problem behaviour levels. We evaluated the extent to which improvements in mentalizing at follow-up mediated changes in parenting, parental adjustment, mental health, and child outcomes. Results included a reduction in parental coercive behaviours and child problems, improved parent-child relationship, and better parental psychological adjustment and mental health. Improvement in self-focused mentalizing were observed. Self-focused mentalizing mediated the changes in most outcomes from baseline to 3-month follow-up. These results provide strong preliminary evidence that the LPP improves parent and child outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chat-based counseling hotlines emerged as a promising low-threshold intervention for youth mental health. However, despite the resulting availability of large text corpora, little work has investigated Natural Language Processing (NLP) applications within this setting. Therefore, this preregistered approach (OSF: XA4PN) utilizes a sample of approximately 19,000 children and young adults that received a chat consultation from a 24/7 crisis service in Germany. Around 800,000 messages were used to predict whether chatters would contact the service again, as this would allow the provision of or redirection to additional treatment. We trained an XGBoost Classifier on the words of the anonymized conversations, using repeated cross-validation and bayesian optimization for hyperparameter search. The best model was able to achieve an AUROC score of 0.68 (p < 0.01) on the previously unseen 3942 newest consultations. A shapely-based explainability approach revealed that words indicating younger age or female gender and terms related to self-harm and suicidal thoughts were associated with a higher chance of recontacting. We conclude that NLP-based predictions of recurrent contact are a promising path toward personalized care at chat hotlines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In 2017, a reform of the German outpatient psychotherapy guideline was carried out, aiming to reduce waiting times and facilitate lowthreshold access. This study analyzes the extent to which the implementation of the two new service elements 'psychotherapeutic consultation times' and 'acute short-term psychotherapeutic interventions' improved psychotherapeutic care for patients with mental disorders and chronic physical conditions (cMPs), for patients with mental disorders without chronic physical conditions (MnoP), and elderly patients. Methods: In a quantitative secondary analysis, we analyzed health insurance data of patients with psychotherapy billing codes obtained from the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) for the years 2015-2019, evaluating descriptive statistical parameters for specific patient groups and care services. Results: Between 2015 and 2019, the number of mentally ill receiving psychotherapy at least once in the corresponding year increased by 30.7%. Among these, the proportion of cMPs-patients increased from 26.8% to 28.2% (+1.4%), while that of MnoP-patients decreased from 68.3% to 66.4% (-1.9%). The number of elderly people receiving treatment also increased. Conclusion: Since increases and decreases in the percentage shares occur evenly over the years investigated, it is questionable whether the reform in 2017 has had a direct influence on these changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Smart sensing has the potential to make psychotherapeutic treatments more effective. It involves the passive analysis and collection of data generated by digital devices. However, acceptance of smart sensing among psychotherapy patients remains unclear. Based on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), this study investigated (1) the acceptance toward smart sensing in a sample of psychotherapy patients (2) the effectiveness of an acceptance facilitating intervention (AFI) and (3) the determinants of acceptance. Methods: Patients (N = 116) were randomly assigned to a control group (CG) or intervention group (IG). The IG received a video AFI on smart sensing, and the CG a control video. An online questionnaire was used to assess acceptance of smart sensing, performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and social influence. The intervention effects of the AFI on acceptance were investigated. The determinants of acceptance were analyzed with structural equation modeling (SEM). Results: The IG showed a moderate level of acceptance (M = 3.16, SD = 0.97), while the CG showed a low level (M = 2.76, SD = 1.0). The increase in acceptance showed a moderate effect in the intervention group (p < .05, d = 0.4). For the IG, performance expectancy (M = 3.92, SD = 0.7), effort expectancy (M = 3.90, SD = 0.98) as well as facilitating conditions (M = 3.91, SD = 0.93) achieved high levels. Performance expectancy (γ = 0.63, p < .001) and effort expectancy (γ = 0.36, p < .001) were identified as the core determinants of acceptance explaining 71.1% of its variance. The fit indices supported the model's validity (CFI = .95, TLI = .93, RMSEA = .08). Discussion: The low acceptance in the CG suggests that enhancing the acceptance should be considered, potentially increasing the use and adherence to the technology. The current AFI was effective in doing so and is thus a promising approach. The IG also showed significantly higher performance expectancy and social influence and, in general, a strong expression of the UTAUT factors. The results support the applicability of the UTAUT in the context of smart sensing in a clinical sample, as the included predictors were able to explain a great amount of the variance of acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, an increasing amount of research has focused on adapting psychotherapy concepts for refugees moving to Germany. For a long time, research from disciplines like anthropology and cultural studies has problematized the eurocentrism of psychology's theoretical premises and methodologies. Currently, scholarship around Global Mental Health and decolonization emphasizes how knowledge production from various disciplines and regions relates to this topic and could contribute to improving respective approaches. Consequently, this review aims at evaluating the actual transdisciplinary and transregional opening of studies on psychotherapeutic interventions for refugees in Germany. It provides a theoretically as well as empirically informed basis for looking at disciplinary premises, practices, and boundaries as well as the regional locatedness of respective research. Fourteen relevant studies, published between January 1, 2007 and March 4, 2022, were identified by systematically searching the databases PubPsych and Web of Science. The studies were reviewed regarding study design, choice and characterization of target groups, regional origin and target group specific adaptations of the therapeutic concepts, integration of elements from and connections to other disciplines, and use of references to scholarship from the Global South. The findings show a pronounced focus on the development of trauma therapy approaches and moreover a broad variety of concept adaptations in response to the assumed characteristics, situations, and needs of the target groups. While the findings reveal a complex transregional pattern of development and adaptation of the therapeutic concepts, transdisciplinary opening and reference to the Global South appear scarce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Chronic back pain is a widespread medical condition associated with high socioeconomic costs and increasing prevalence. Despite the advanced implementation of multidisciplinary approaches, providing a satisfactory treatment offer for those affected is often not possible. Exposure therapy (EXP) promises to be an effective and economical form of treatment and in a previous pilot study showed to be superior to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in reducing perceived limitations of movement. The current study aims to further compare the efficacy of both treatment methods and identify those patient groups that particularly benefit from EXP. Methods: The general objective of this randomized multicenter clinical trial (targeted N = 380) is to improve and expand the range of treatments available to patients with chronic back pain. As the primary objective of the study, two different psychological treatments (EXP and CBT) will be compared. The primary outcome measure is a clinically significant improvement in pain-related impairment, measured by the QPBDS, from baseline to 6-month follow-up. Secondary outcome measures are absolute changes and clinically significant improvements in variables coping, psychological flexibility, depressiveness, catastrophizing, exercise avoidance and fear of exercise, and intensity of pain. Participants are recruited in five psychological and medical centers in Germany and receive ten sessions of manualized therapy by trained licensed CBT therapists or clinical psychologists, who are currently in their post-gradual CBT training. Potential predictors of each treatment's efficacy will be explored with a focus on avoidance and coping behavior. Conclusion: This study will be the first RCT to compare CBT and EXP in chronic back pain in a large sample, including patients from different care structures due to psychological and medical recruitment centers. By identifying and exploring potential predictors of symptom improvement in each treatment group, this study will contribute to enable a more individualized assignment to treatment modalities and thus improves the care situation for chronic back pain and helps to create a customized treatment program for subgroups of pain patients. If our findings confirm EXP to be an efficacious and efficient treatment concept, it should gain more attention and be further disseminated. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05294081. Registered on 02 March 2022. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart surgery patients are at high risk for psychological trauma and comorbid psychological disorders. Depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorders in this patient group are predictors of outcomes after cardiac surgery. Medical hypnosis is effective for non-pharmacologic prevention and treatment of psychological disorders and has been associated with improved health-related quality of life and better cardiovascular outcomes. This contribution makes note of evidence of the effectiveness of medical hypnosis in a discussion of the clinical experience with specific hypnotherapeutic tools and interventions from the perspective of the mental health team in one large cardiac center in Germany. Based on our experience, we encourage heart centers to educate their heart surgery care teams about the core concepts of medical hypnosis and to make hypnotherapeutic techniques available as an adjunctive therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]