Evaluating psychosocial outcomes in families of children with chronic health conditions is complicated by heterogeneity in impact across and within conditions. This study used goal attainment scaling to assess individual families' progress towards child behaviour goals following brief parenting support for families of children (2-11 years) with phenylketonuria (PKU). Twelve hospital-recruited families nominated up to two behaviour goals and completed baseline monitoring before attending two 2-hr Healthy Living Triple P group sessions. Monitoring was repeated at 4-weeks post-intervention and 4-month follow-up. Families reported partial or complete success on 20 of 23 goals by follow-up. Nine goals were PKU-related, focusing on formula intake for younger children and dietary independence for older children; 14 were general, targeting aggression/non-compliance in younger children, with older children's goals more varied. Goal attainment scaling is feasible and effective for monitoring progress towards individually tailored child behaviour goals, with potential applications in research and clinical care.

There is little known about the behavior intervention plan (BIP) team composition for students with intellectual disability, developmental delay, and/or autism (i.e., IDD). We sought to understand whether students with IDD are included as part of the team to develop their BIPs and who is involved and the correlation with quality of the BIP. We reviewed and statistically analyzed records from 87 BIPs from one large school district. Of the records reviews, most BIP teams included a parent or guardian, administrator, general education teacher, and special education teacher. Less than 5% of BIPs included a student with IDD. Implications for policy and practice are provided. Specifically, federal and state policy guides are needed to ensure that BIP teams include both the individual with IDD and their parents or guardians, along with individuals with expertise in supporting students with IDD.

Interventions aimed at enhancing social cognition deficits in individuals with schizophrenia are globally supported by evidence demonstrating improvements in various functional outcomes. The Social Cognition and Interaction Training (SCIT) intervention was adapted for use in the Indian context for individuals with schizophrenia using the Reporting Cultural Adaptation in Psychological Trials (RECAPT) guidelines, informed by expert consultations. This included contextually relevant changes in the resource materials (print, photographs, and video) and the development of additional resources. Changes in the intervention delivery process included the use of individual sessions with adjunctive group sessions. Initial feasibility was assessed via a pilot tryout of the adapted SCIT on three persons diagnosed with schizophrenia. This informed additional changes for future applications of the adapted SCIT, such as structured involvement of family members as practice partners and modifications in the intervention delivery format. Content validation process for the final adapted intervention modules was carried out by four mental health practitioners. The experiences, challenges, and decision-making process involved in the adaptation are outlined, along with implications for future research and contextually tailored intervention strategies.

Research has shown that instructive feedback (IF) facilitates the generalization of tacts in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, no study to date has examined the effects of IF on the emergence of tacts across primary and secondary languages with both trained and non-trained exemplars. This study evaluated the efficacy of IF in promoting the generalization of tacts across languages using a nonconcurrent multiple baseline design with four participants with ASD from Spanish-speaking families. The results demonstrated that IF was effective at producing generalization across novel stimuli exemplars in primary and secondary targets for two of the four participants. Additional training components (i.e., rehearsals and no-no prompts) were effective in producing the same generalization outcomes with the remaining two participants.

Cognitive remediation (CR) is an evidenced-based intervention, but is not consistently included in clinical guidelines, nor implemented widely in mental health services, and is still not fully accepted as a psychological therapy. This is despite demonstrating a boost to recovery, and reductions in health care costs. We describe potential issues as CR matures into a widely accepted and used psychological therapy by drawing on high-quality evidence from reviews and meta-analyses and specifically highlight how CR uses therapeutic formulation, similar to other psychological therapies, to address specific client needs. Most evidence is for those with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, but we also consider CR benefits for other mental health conditions. Data emerging from different health systems are, at last, providing information on how CR is used, disseminated and practice standards maintained. This may be the information needed to support further implementation, expansion, and consolidation of CR use globally.

Research featuring adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities who engage in problem behavior has outlined various treatment approaches. The current quantitative systematic literature review identified and coded 76 peer-reviewed and gray literature articles published between January 2002 and September 2022. Following article identification and coding, we calculated effect size estimates (i.e., Tau Baseline Corrected) and assessed the methodological rigor of included articles. Through this work, we uncovered 42 unique multi-protocol treatments (i.e., treatments incorporating multiple therapeutic elements). Multi-protocol treatments were associated with larger effect sizes (more effective) compared to single-protocol treatments. The average methodological rigor score associated with peer-reviewed works was 1.6 (out of 4), while gray literature works scored 1.2. We offer commentary in response to these outcomes, alongside recommendations for future research to address the many avenues of inquiry that appear to remain largely neglected (e.g., component analysis to evaluate individual treatment elements and their efficacy).

Behavior therapy is a well-established and empirically supported treatment for tic disorders (TDs). However, concerns have been expressed about the negative effects of behavioral interventions, such as tic worsening, tic substitution, and excessive effort. This study explored perceived negative effects of tic management strategies in adults with TDs and predictors of these experiences. Participants (N = 72) completed semi-structured interviews 11 years after receiving behavior therapy or supportive therapy in a randomized clinical trial. We examined responses to interview questions about managing tics and predictors of reported negative effects. Most participants did not experience tic worsening (84%) or tic substitution (75%) from tic management strategies. The majority felt they could manage tics while participating in their environment (87%) and did not report life interference from tic management (77%). About half (45%) felt less present when managing tics. Treatment non-responders in the original trial were more likely to report negative effects of tic management strategies. No differences in reported negative consequences were found between those who received behavior therapy versus supportive therapy, suggesting that behavior therapy specifically does not lead to such adverse effects. These findings could reduce misconceptions about behavior therapy for TDs and enhance its acceptability and utilization.