In Bipolar Disorder (BD), people report a lower quality of life and lower levels of well-being than the general population. Additionally, patients with bipolar disorder have unmet needs which are closely linked to elements of positive psychology.

The current study aimed to gain insight from patients with BD and care professionals about their thoughts of online Positive Psychology Interventions (PPI) to develop an app containing PPI’s for people with BD.

The study is conducted in accordance with the CeHRes roadmap principles. Data were collected by focus groups, questionnaires, rapid prototyping and online feedback from the participants. Three focus groups meetings (FGM) were held with consumers (8) and professionals (5).

The FGM reveals a need for positive psychology interventions to cover some of the unmet needs that can be applied in an app in addition to the guidelines-advised treatment. Patients and professionals expect that PPIs in the current treatment in BD can meet some of the needs that are currently still unmet, specifically offering hope, increasing self-esteem, expressing feelings, acceptation and preventing social isolation. The process of contextual inquiry and value specification is helpful to guide this process.

The consensus on the different topics about the use of positive psychology intervention shows that both consumers and professionals underline the importance of applying PPI’s in BD. The use during subsyndrome and mild depressive episodes seem the most beneficial periods for patients with BD. A more extended study has to be conducted to confirm if these findings are more generalizable

No significant relationships.

Despite evidence of the burden of alcohol use on families, there is a lack of adequate and targeted support. We aimed to examine the feasibility, acceptability and impact of Supporting Addiction Affected Families Effectively (SAFE), a brief lay counsellor-delivered intervention for affected family members (AFMs).

Parallel arm feasibility randomised controlled trial [1:1 allocation to SAFE or enhanced usual care (EUC)]. The primary outcome was mean difference in symptom score assessed by the Symptom Rating Test and secondary outcomes were difference in coping, impact and social support scores measured by the Coping Questionnaire, Family Member Impact Questionnaire, and Alcohol, Drugs and the Family Social Support Scale. Process data examining feasibility and acceptability were also collected. The primary analysis was intention to treat at the 3-month endpoint.

In total, 115 AFMs were referred to the trial, and 101 (87.8%) consenting participants were randomised to the two arms (51 SAFE arm and 50 EUC arm). Seventy-eight per cent completed treatment, with the mean number of sessions being 4.25 sessions and mean duration being 53 min. Ninety-five per cent completed outcome assessment. There were no statistically significant differences between SAFE and EUC on any of the outcome measures, except for the between-group adjusted mean differences for social support scores (AMD −6.05, 95% CI −10.98 to −1.12, p = 0.02).

Our work indicates that it is possible to identify AFMs through community networking, and have high rates of participation for lay counsellor-delivered psychosocial care. Nevertheless, there is a need for further intervention development to ensure its contextual relevance and appropriateness.

Providing evidence-based services in areas with emerging or low-level evidence is a challenge for many clinicians. The aim of the current study was to apply a newly designed novel methodology to develop and describe a new intervention for cognitive-communication reading comprehension deficits in early acquired brain injury rehabilitation.

An emergent multi-phase mixed methods design allowed phases of different research activity to build an evidence base of quantitative and qualitative data. A pragmatic clinical framework was developed to combine these traditional research findings with principles from knowledge translation and implementation science, evidence-based practice and intervention development models, clinical contextual practice guidelines and the Medical Research Council’s guidelines for developing and evaluating complex interventions, to create an evidence-based contextually driven clinical intervention.

The resulting reading comprehension intervention and service delivery model is presented and involves a multiple-strategy intervention across increasing level of reading comprehension complexity. In areas where traditional methodologies provide low-level evidence, this method provides an alternate way to conduct evidence-based clinical research.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. Lifestyle choices play an important role in the aetiology of cancer with up to 4 in 10 cases potentially preventable. Interventions delivered by healthcare professionals (HCPs) that incorporate risk information have the potential to promote behaviour change. Our aim was to develop a very brief intervention incorporating cancer risk, which could be implemented within primary care.

Guided by normalisation process theory (NPT), we developed a prototype intervention using literature reviews, consultation with patient and public representatives and pilot work with patients and HCPs. We conducted focus groups and interviews with 65 HCPs involved in delivering prevention activities. Findings were used to refine the intervention before 22 HCPs completed an online usability test and provided further feedback via a questionnaire incorporating a modified version of the NoMAD checklist.

The intervention included a website where individuals could provide information on lifestyle risk factors view their estimated 10-year risk of developing one or more of the five most common preventable cancers and access lifestyle advice incorporating behaviour change techniques. Changes incorporated from feedback from the focus groups and interviews included signposting to local services and websites, simplified wording and labelling of risk information. In the usability testing, all participants felt it would be easy to collect the risk information. Ninety-one percent felt the intervention would enable discussion about cancer risk and believed it had potential to be easily integrated into National Health Service (NHS) Health Checks. However, only 36% agreed it could be delivered within 5 min.

With the use of NPT, we developed a very brief intervention that is acceptable to HCPs in primary care and could be potentially integrated into NHS Health Checks. However, further work is needed to assess its feasibility and potential effectiveness.

Gaining too much or too little weight in pregnancy (according to Institute of Medicine (IOM) guidelines) negatively affects both mother and child, but many women find it difficult to manage their gestational weight gain (GWG). Here we describe the use of the intervention mapping protocol to design ‘Come On!’, an intervention to promote adequate GWG among healthy pregnant women.

We used the six steps of intervention mapping: (i) needs assessment; (ii) formulation of change objectives; (iii) selection of theory-based methods and practical strategies; (iv) development of the intervention programme; (v) development of an adoption and implementation plan; and (vi) development of an evaluation plan. A consortium of users and related professionals guided the process of development.

As a result of the needs assessment, two goals for the intervention were formulated: (i) helping healthy pregnant women to stay within the IOM guidelines for GWG; and (ii) getting midwives to adequately support the efforts of healthy pregnant women to gain weight within the IOM guidelines. To reach these goals, change objectives and determinants influencing the change objectives were formulated. Theories used were the Transtheoretical Model, Social Cognitive Theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. Practical strategies to use the theories were the foundation for the development of ‘Come On!’, a comprehensive programme that included a tailored Internet programme for pregnant women, training for midwives, an information card for midwives, and a scheduled discussion between the midwife and the pregnant woman during pregnancy. The programme was pre-tested and evaluated in an effect study.

To identify parents’ concerns and attitudes towards children’s diets, activity habits and weight status.

Computer-assisted telephone interviewing administration of a 37-item survey. Data were weighted for parental education level. Descriptive results are presented, and comparisons are made by the age, gender and parental characteristics of the child.

Online research panel of Australian parents.

A total of 1202 randomly selected parents of children aged 2–16 years, broadly representative of the Australian population.

Parents were concerned about their child’s education (reported by 35 % of respondents), child’s health and well-being (25 %), and violence, drugs and alcohol (20 %). Concern about nutrition was indicated by 14 % of respondents and concern about fitness/exercise was indicated by 3 % of the sample. Factors perceived as making a healthy diet difficult to achieve for their child were child resistance (89 %), the availability of healthy food (72 %), a busy lifestyle (67 %) and the influence of food advertising (63 %). Ninety-two per cent of parents thought that it was realistic for their child to be active for at least 1 h/d, with 75 % of parents feeling that it was realistic for their child to have less than 2 h recreational screen time per d. Despite this, common barriers to achieving the activity guidelines were lack of time, weather and keeping children occupied.

Insights into parental concerns from the current study may be useful in guiding development of interventions to improve children’s nutrition and physical activity habits by framing messages in a way that are most likely to resonate with parents.

To describe the process of establishing and implementing a social support infant feeding intervention.

This paper outlines the initial stages of a randomised controlled trial which assessed the effectiveness of a social support intervention on a range of infant feeding outcomes. Details are presented of the processes involved in recruiting, training and supporting a group of volunteers who provided support to the study sample.

Camden and Islington, London, UK.

Initial networking with local agencies and organisations provided invaluable information and contacts. Employing a dedicated volunteer co-ordinator is vitally important in the recruitment, training and support of volunteers. Providing child care and travel expenses is an essential incentive for volunteers with young children. Advertisements placed in local newspapers were the most successful means of recruiting volunteers. Appropriate training is needed to equip volunteers with the necessary knowledge and skills to provide effective support. Particular emphasis in the training focused upon developing the necessary interpersonal skills and self-confidence. The evaluation of the training programme demonstrated that it improved volunteers’ knowledge and reported confidence. The provision of ongoing support is also essential to maintain volunteers’ interest and enthusiasm. The retention of volunteers is, however, a key challenge.

The processes outlined in this paper have demonstrated the feasibility of successfully establishing, implementing and maintaining a community-based social support infant feeding programme. The experiences described provide useful insights into the practical issues that need to be addressed in setting up a social support intervention.