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Breast cancer is associated with adverse physical and psychological consequences. Although research has identified the various benefits linked to psychosocial interventions, mixed results have been found in relation to peer support. The aim of the present systematic review and meta‐ethnography is to explore the qualitative evidence on the experience of breast cancer survivors in peer support. A systematic search of the literature was conducted until June 2023, and a meta‐ethnographic approach was used to synthesize the included papers. Eleven articles were included, collecting the experience of 345 participants. The following four core areas involved in peer support implementation were identified from the synthesis: Peer support can create understanding and a mutual therapeutic and emotional connection; peer support can facilitate an educational and supportive patient‐centered journey; peer support should monitor group members for unpleasant emotional experiences; peer support should have professional supervision of recruitment and training to prioritize quality. These results can be used as patient‐centered insights by healthcare professionals to provide evidence‐informed peer support programs and address current limitations in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the burden associated to depression, current standards of care are still limited in scope and effectiveness. In addition, therapy outcomes have frequently focused solely on symptoms, leaving patients' wellbeing relatively unaddressed. The objective of this study was to test whether two cognitive therapies increased subjective wellbeing in a sample of adults diagnosed with a depressive disorder, additionally assessing the relationship between this growth and decreases in both depression severity and psychological distress. Data from 116 participants from a randomised controlled trial comparing the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy and dilemma-focused therapy were analysed. Multilevel linear models were employed, together with correlational analyses. Results showed that both interventions significantly improved wellbeing with moderate to large effect sizes, while no significant differences were found between treatments. In turn, the increase in wellbeing was significantly associated to improvements in depression severity and psychological distress. This study sheds light on the complex relationship between happiness and depression, supporting their conceptualisation as related yet independent human experiences, and strengthening subjective wellbeing as a useful outcome for psychological research. Psychotherapy is presented as an effective intervention to enhance wellbeing, even among individuals with severe depressive symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: With the recent increase in survival rates of breast cancer patients, it is of key importance to also improve their life quality. Disinformation regarding illness is one of the major stress sources for patients with breast cancer. The present study aimed to study the educational section of the digital ecosystem ICOnnecta't, analyzing which health information areas are most relevant for breast cancer patients. The fact that patients mostly consulted emotional and medical audiovisual material within the first three months after diagnosis underlines the need to create significant health-related content and deliver it to patients shortly after diagnosis. Those preventive interventions are essential to avoid the deterioration of emotional distress, which in turn has been shown to influence, not only life quality, but also patient survival. Health education and psychosocial interventions prevent emotional distress, and the latter has been shown to have an impact on survival. In turn, digital health education interventions may help promote equity by reaching a higher number of cancer patients, both because they avoid journeys to the hospital, by and having a better efficiency. A total of 234 women recently diagnosed with breast cancer in a comprehensive cancer center used the digital ecosystem ICOnnecta't from March 2019 to March 2021. ICOnnecta't consists of four care levels, provided to patients according to their level of distress. The second level of this intervention consists of an educational campus, which was analyzed to track users' interests and their information-seeking behavior. Overall, 99 out of 234 women (42.3%) used the educational campus. There were no significant differences in sociodemographic and clinical variables between the campus users and non-users. Among users, the median number of resources utilized per user was four (interquartile range: 2–9). Emotional and medical resources were the contents most frequently viewed and the audiovisual format the most consulted (p < 0.01). Resources were used mainly within the first three months from enrolment. Users who were guided to visit the virtual campus were more active than spontaneous users. Offering an early holistic health educational platform inside a digital cancer ecosystem, with health professionals involved, can reach more patients, promoting equity in the access of cancer information and prevention, from the very beginning of the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This randomized controlled trial compared the efficacy of cognitive behavioral stress management (CBSM) and positive psychotherapy in cancer (PPC) to reduce post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) and distress, and to promote post-traumatic growth (PTG) in cancer survivors. Participants were 140 adult women randomly allocated to CBSM (n = 73) or PPC (n = 67). PTSS, distress, and PTG were assessed at pre- and post-intervention, and at 3- and 12–month follow-ups. Analysis showed PPC was more effective in decreasing PTSS (b= −7.61, p<.001) and distress (b= −3.66; p<.001) than CBSM, but neither therapy significantly increased PTG (b= 0.77, p =.76). The relational veracity of PTG and its role predicting reduced PTSS was observed only in the PPC arm. In conclusion, PPC appears to be a valid therapeutic option for assimilating and accommodating the experience of cancer after treatment completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the increasing attention given to evidence-based practice, little research has focused on the quality of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) involving psychotherapy. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the quality of national CPGs for psychological treatments for depression in European countries.Methods: A search of the Guidelines International Network's library was conducted. Four guidelines met inclusion criteria for the study and were assessed using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II (AGREE-II) platform.Results: Overall, the guidelines included in the study were found to be of good quality, although two guidelines received low scores for applicability, and some did not provide information on competing interests or potential influences from funding bodies.Limitations: Although guidelines were retrieved from a well-known international library, some European guidelines for depression published elsewhere may have been overlooked.Conclusions: Results of this study provide support for the high quality of the guidelines reviewed, but also raise some concerns regarding editorial independence and the applicability of the guidelines, areas that should be the focus of improvement in future versions of these guidelines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a debilitating syndrome, more prevalent in women, which is aggravated by the presence of depressive symptoms. In the last decade, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has demonstrated to reduce such depressive symptoms and pain in these patients, but there are still a considerable number of them who do not respond to interventions. The complexity of the disorder requires the consideration of the unique psychological characteristics of each patient to attain good outcomes. One approach that could accomplish this goal might be personal construct therapy (PCT), an idiographic approach that considers identity features and interpersonal meanings as their main target of intervention. Then, the aim of the study is to test the efficacy of PCT as compared to a well-established treatment in the reduction of depressive symptoms in women with fibromyalgia. Methods and Analysis: This is a multicenter randomized controlled trial. In each condition participants will attend up to eighteen 1-hr weekly therapy sessions and up to three 1-hr booster sessions during the following 3– 5 months after the end of treatment. The depression subscale of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-D) will be the primary outcome measure and it will be assessed at baseline, at the end of therapy, and at 6-month follow-up. Other secondary measures will be applied following the same schedule. Participants will be 18- to 70-years-old women with a diagnosis of FM, presenting depressive symptoms evinced by scores above seven in depression items of the HADS-D. Intention-to-treat and complete case analyses will be performed for the main statistical tests. Linear mixed models will be used to analyze and to compare the treatment effects of both conditions. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02711020. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is aimed to counteract cognitions and behaviours that are considered as dysfunctional. The aim of the study is to test whether the inclusion of a non-counteractive approach (dilemma-focused intervention, DFI) in combination with CBT group therapy will yield better short- and long-term outcomes than an intervention conducted entirely using CBT. Method: A total of 128 patients with depression and at least one cognitive conflict, of six health community centres in Barcelona, participated from November of 2011 to December of 2014 in seven weekly group CBT sessions and were then randomly allocated to either DFI or CBT (eight individual sessions each) by an independent researcher. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory-II at baseline, at the end of therapy and three- and twelve-month follow-ups. Therapists did not participate in any of the assessments nor in the randomisation of patients and evaluators were masked to group assignment. Both intention to treat and complete case analyses were performed using linear mixed models with random effects. Findings: According to intention-to-treat analysis (F2 , 179 = 0.69) and complete case analysis (F2 , 146 = 0.88), both conditions similarly reduced the severity of symptoms across posttreatment assessments. For the 77 participants (CBTgroup +CBTindividual = 40; CBTgroup+DFIindividual = 37) that completed allocated treatment and one-year follow-up assessment, response and remission rates were relative higher for the DFI condition, however no significant differences were found between treatment conditions. The relapse rates were similar between treatment conditions (CBTgroup +CBTindividual = 7/20; CBTgroup+DFIindividual = 8/22). Interpretation: Although using a counteractive approach across all the treatment sessions is quite effective, it does not seem to be necessary to produce significant improvement. DFI may be considered as an alternative, which could be included in a wider treatment for depression. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov; ID: . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Since long ago it has been asserted that internal conflicts are relevant to the understanding and treatment of mental disorders, but little research has been conducted to support the claim. The aim of this study was to test the differential efficacy of group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) plus an intervention focused on the dilemma(s) detected for each patient versus group individual CBT plus individual CBT for treating depression. A comparative controlled trial with a 3-month follow-up was conducted.Methods: One hundred twenty-eight adults meeting criteria for MDD and/or dysthymia, presenting at least one cognitive conflict (implicative dilemma or dilemmatic construct, assessed by the repertory grid technique) and who had completed seven sessions of group CBT were randomly assigned to eight sessions of individual manualized CBT or dilemma-focused therapy (DFT). The Beck Depression Inventory-II was administered at baseline, at the end of therapy and after 3 months' follow-up.Results: Multilevel mixed effects modeling yielded no significant differences between CBT and DFT with the intention-to-treat sample. Equivalent effect sizes, remission, and response rates were found with completers as well. In combination with group CBT, both individual CBT and DFT significantly reduced depressive symptoms.Conclusions: Both conditions obtained comparable results to those in the literature. Thus, the superiority of the adjunctive DFT was not demonstrated. Working with dilemmas can be seen as a promising additional target in the psychotherapy of depression, but further research is still required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In current clinical practice, between one third and a half of patients diagnosed with cancer experience distress. Moreover, many of these psychosocial needs often remain unaddressed, although effective interventions exist. Nowadays, eHealth solutions like ICOnnecta't offer new tools to overcome these limitations and improve access to treatment. This digital ecosystem has been proved to be feasible to implement, reaching good acceptability, use, and satisfaction between users. In addition, it allowed symptom monitoring in real time, facilitating preventive early interventions. Overall, fostering social support appears as a key to facilitate a resilient response after diagnosis. Psychosocial interventions prevent emotional distress and facilitate adaptation in breast cancer (BC). However, conventional care presents accessibility barriers that eHealth has the potential to overcome. ICOnnecta't is a stepped digital ecosystem designed to build wellbeing and reduce psychosocial risks during the cancer journey through a European-funded project. Women recently diagnosed with BC in a comprehensive cancer center were offered the ecosystem. ICOnnecta't consists of four care levels, provided according to users' distress: screening and monitoring, psychoeducation campus, peer-support community, and online-group psychotherapy. Descriptive analyses were conducted to assess the platform's implementation, while multilevel linear models were used to study users' psychosocial course after diagnosis. ICOnnecta't showed acceptance, use and attrition rates of 57.62, 74.60, and 29.66%, respectively. Up to 76.19% of users reported being satisfied with the platform and 75.95% informed that it was easy to use. A total of 443 patients' needs were detected and responsively managed, leading 94.33% of users to remain in the preventive steps. In general, strong social support led to a better psychosocial course. ICOnnecta't has been successfully implemented. The results showed that it supported the development of a digital relation with healthcare services and opened new early support pathways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Given the increasing prevalence of mental health problems in the general population, it is indispensable to use assessment tools aimed to assess the outcome of therapeutic interventions in order to refine the process of psychological rehabilitation. Method. We describe the process of adaptation into Spanish and a first psychometric study of the young Person's- Clinical outcomes in Routine Evaluation (YP-CORE), an instrument designed to measure the outcome in terms of general distress of therapeutic interventions in young people (11-16 years). 104 adolescents participated in the clinical and 131 in the non-clinical samples. Results. Analyses showed good levels of acceptability, adequate internal consistency and acceptable test-retest stability, with moderately high correlations between administrations. In addition, the instrument yielded significant correlations with all dimensions of the youth Self Report, the highest being between both total scores. Crucially, discriminated between clinical and non-clinical samples and showed a small effect of age but a larger effect of gender, with higher scores for females. The Principal Component Analysis replicates the original structure. Cut-off scores to calculate the reliable and clinically significant change are provided. Conclusions. These results support initial use of the instrument though there are certain limitations that indicate the need for more research with larger and more representative samples, in which the psychometric properties of the instrument should be verified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]