May 12, 2021
Internet- and smartphone-based care helped with pediatric OCD, depression in adults
Mental health interventions delivered online or via a smartphone showed promise for treating kids with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and adults with depressive symptoms as well as comorbid hypertension or diabetes, researchers reported.
In a non-inferiority trial of participants with a mean age 13.4 years, the six-month Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) score was 11.57 points in the so-called “stepped-care” group versus 10.57 points in the face-to-face treatment group (control) for an estimated mean difference of 0.91 points (1-sided 97.5% CI −∞ to 3.28,
P=0.02 for non-inferiority), according to Kristina Aspvall, PhD, of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Research Centre in Stockholm, and co-authors.
The impact of cash transfers on mental health in children and young people in low-income and middle-income countries: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Format
Correspondence to Dr Annie Zimmerman; annie.zimmerman@kcl.ac.uk
Abstract
Introduction Although cash transfer programmes are not explicitly designed to improve mental health, by reducing poverty and improving the life chances of children and young people, they may also improve their mental health. This systematic review and meta-analysis assessed the evidence on the effectiveness of cash transfers to improve the mental health of children and young people in low-income and middle-income countries.
Methods We searched Pubmed, EBSCOhost, Scientific Electronic Library Online, ISI Web of Science and Social Sciences Citation Index and grey literature (from January 2000 to July 2020) for studies which quantitatively assessed the impact of cash transfers on mental health in young people (aged 0–24 years), using a design that