Center for Telepsychology

Introduction Potters Bar Clinic, CAMHS LSU, Elysium Healthcare, collaborates with external physical exercise therapy provider Psychesoma. Psychesoma operates within two CAMHS Low Secure wards. Psychesoma works with patients who have mental health problems, ASD, and learning disabilities. Psychesoma offer person-centred group and individual sessions aiming to improve young peoples’ mood state, wellbeing, and health through Physical exercise therapy. Objectives We study the influence of physical exercise intervention in positive well-being, psychological distress, and fatigue measures in young people receiving mental health treatment under section 3 of the MHA in a LSU environment. Methods The Subjective Exercise Experience Scale (SEES; McAuley & Courneya, 1994) is a measure of global psychological responses to exercise stimuli and is a standardised measures used in previous similar research. The SEES assesses three general categories of subjective responses to exercise stimuli: positive well-being, psychological distress, and fatigue. Each sub-scale includes 4 emotion statements, with 12 statements in total. Young people are required to rate the degree to which they feel each emotion in the present moment on a Likert-type scale (1; ‘Not at all’ – 7; ‘Very much so’). Results This measure is completed pre- and post- Psychesoma sessions. The data was collected by Psychesoma trainers between December 2022 and November 2023. The measure was completed 63 times in total by 11 young people. On the positive wellbeing sub-scale, the cohort had a mean pre-session score of 11.63, and a mean post-session score of 17.23, representing a 5.31 point increase in positive wellbeing. On the psychological distress sub-scale, the cohort had a mean pre-session score of 9.18 and a mean post-session score of 7.06, representing a 2.21 point decrease in psychological distress. On the fatigue sub-scale, the cohort had a mean pre-session score of 14.73 and a mean post-session score of 10.69, representing a 3.68 point decrease in fatigue Conclusions Data indicated that young people experience an increase in positive wellbeing and a decrease in psychological distress and fatigue immediately following Psychesoma sessions. Further research in place to explore the long term duration of these effects. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

IntroductionMental health resilience is crucial to professional wellbeing and productivity, being that 57% of company employees are reporting burnout. Additionally, early-stage preventive mental health interventions are not common, and typically employees only have access to mid-stage professional care.ObjectivesThe aim of this project is to provide employees with a preventive self-coping tool, enabling open and inclusive care. Specifically, the aim is to assess the receptivity, usability and impact of the usage of a mobile app that provides coping strategies based on positive psychology and a burnout-risk screening.MethodsA mobile app was used with the purpose of being accessible to everyone, independently of their financial capacity. The app also promotes inclusiveness, by aggregating several approaches and methods for mental health coping, which are recommended given the needs of each user. The app was released to a large Portuguese company with 700 employees, in which employees could download it voluntarily.ResultsAfter 7 months, the results showed 37% receptivity rate, 24% improvement on anxiety levels, 36% improvement on workplace wellbeing, 23% increase on mental health self-coping skills, and 21% improvement on burnout-risk levels. These metrics were acquired via app’s back-end, self-reporting, and our model for burnout-risk screening.ConclusionsFirst results showcase the positive impact of adding such a mobile solution to the employees’ mental healthcare. Next steps will be conducting a longer study, adding control groups and productivity assessment.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

BackgroundRapid advances in information technology and telecommunications have resulted in a dramatic increase in the use of mobile devices and the internet to enhance and facilitate access to treatment. Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is an empirically based treatment that is well suited for enhancement by new technologies, particularly with youth. To facilitate the dissemination of this evidence-based treatment, we developed a technology-enhanced CBT intervention for the treatment of adolescent depression consisting of (1) online therapist training (2) in-session use of tablets for teaching clients CBT concepts and skills, and (3) text messaging for between session homework reminders and self-monitoring.MethodsEighteen licensed clinicians (social workers n = 7, psychologists n = 9) were randomized to have their patients receive either the intervention (CBT) or treatment as usual (TAU). Each clinician treated four adolescents for 12 weeks. Clinicians in the CBT arm completed an online tutorial on CBT treatment of adolescent depression, then received an iPad with access to patient education materials for teaching CBT concepts to patients during sessions. Individualized text messages were integrated into treatment for homework reminders, support, and outcomes measurement. Outcome measures included a 49-item multiple choice test for tutorial effectiveness; the system usability scale (SUS) for user satisfaction; quick inventory of depressive symptomatology–adolescent version (QIDS-A-Pat); and clinician and patient ratings on the therapeutic alliance scale for adolescents (TASA).ResultsA significant increase in knowledge of CBT concepts was found after completing the tutorial, t(8) = 7.02, p < 0.001. Clinician and patient ratings of user satisfaction were high for both the iPad teaching tools, and the text messaging. Ninety-five percent of teens said reviewing their text messages with their therapist was helpful, and all said they would use text messaging in treatment again. Ratings of the therapeutic alliance were higher in the CBT arm t(131) = 4.03, p = 0.001. A significant reduction in depression was found in both groups [t(34) = 8.453, p < 0.001 and t(29) = 6.67, p < 0.001 for CBT and TAU, respectively). Clinical ratings of improvement were greater on all outcome measures for the CBT arm; however, none reached statistical significance. Effect sizes (Cohen’s d) ranged from small (QIDS-A) to large (TASA). ConclusionsResults support the feasibility of this technology-enhanced CBT intervention as a means of improving CBT treatment of adolescent depression and may help address the critical shortage of therapists trained on empirically based treatments.

In Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), neurophysiologic changes can alter motor control [1][2] and therefore alter speech production by influencing vocal fold motion (source), the vocal tract (system), and melody (prosody). In this paper, we use a database of voice recordings from 28 depressed subjects treated over a 6-week period [3] to compare correlations between features from each of the three speech-production components and clinical assessments of MDD. Toward biomarkers for audio-based continuous monitoring of depression severity, we explore the contextual dependence of these correlations with free-response and read speech, and show tradeoffs across categories of features in these two example contexts. Likewise, we also investigate the context-and speech component-dependence of correlations between our vocal features and assessment of individual symptoms of MDD (e.g., depressed mood, agitation, energy). Finally, motivated by our initial findings, we describe how context may be useful in "on-body" monitoring of MDD to facilitate identification of depression and evaluation of its treatment.

The need for clinicians to use evidence-based practices (such as cognitive behavior therapy [CBT]) is now well recognized. However, a gap exists between the need for empirically based treatments and their availability. This is due, in part, to a shortage of clinicians formally trained on CBT. To address this problem, we developed a Web-based therapist CBT training program, to increase accessibility to this training. The program uses a two-step approach: an interactive multimedia online tutorial for didactic training on CBT concepts, followed by live remote observation through a videoconference of trainees conducting CBT, with immediate feedback in real time during critical moments to enhance learning through iterative guidance and practice. Thirty-nine clinicians from around the county completed the online didactic training and 22 completed the live remote training. Results found a significant increase in knowledge of CBT concepts and a significant increase in clinical skills, as judged by a blind rater. User satisfaction was high for both the online tutorial and the videoconference training. Utilization of CBT by trainees increased after training. Results support the acceptability and effectiveness of this Web-based approach to training.

Public health agencies simply do not have enough trained staff or volunteers to effectively respond to a large-scale disaster. Training volunteers "off the street" will be crucial--but time consuming--in a public health emergency. A centralized volunteer staging and training area can help to efficiently register, credential, and conduct just-in-time training of volunteers, while reducing stress, confusion, traffic congestion, and security issues at various mass dispensing clinics.