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A rapid increase in global smartphone ownership and digital health technologies offers the potential for mobile phone applications (apps) to deliver mental health interventions. The purpose of this paper is to bring together evidence reporting on mental health mobile apps to gain an understanding of the quality of current evidence, the positive and adverse effects of apps and the mechanisms underlying such effects.

A systematic search was carried out across six databases, for any systematic reviews or meta-analyses conducted up to 2020. Review quality was assessed using the Assessment of Multiple Systematic Reviews.

Across a total of 24 articles, a variety of clinical outcomes were assessed. Most compelling support was shown for apps targeting anxiety symptoms; some evidence favoured the use of apps for depression symptoms. Less evidence was available for the remaining clinical symptoms such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, sleep disorders and substance use. Overall, there was limited evidence pertaining to adverse effects and change mechanisms and a lack of quality reporting across a large proportion of included reviews. The included reviews demonstrate the need for further robust research before apps are recommended clinically.

This paper makes a valuable contribution to the current status of research and reviews investigating mental health mobile apps. Recommendations are made for improved adherence to review guidelines and to ensure risk of bias is minimised.

The purpose of this article is to introduce the theme of this special issue which contains a selection of papers written by the staff of UCL SLAIS.

The history of the School is briefly described and its philosophy of taking a broad and inclusive approach to professional education is reviewed.

There is considerable benefit to professional education in an institution which incorporates all branches of information work, and retains a sense of the value of traditional skills in tandem with an exploitation of new technologies. The contributors to this issue reflect this both by the range of disciplines which they represent and by the range of topics, from the most traditional to the most modern, and demonstrate the synergy between them.

The article provides an introduction to the special issue and promotes the value of an inclusive approach to professional education in the information disciplines.

Background: Quality of life is a core concern for cancer patients, which can be negatively affected by illness-related death anxiety; yet understanding of how to appropriately target psycho-oncological interventions remains lacking. We aimed to explore experiential acceptance in cancer patients, and whether acceptance – as an alternative to avoidant coping – was related to and predictive of better quality of life and death anxiety outcomes.

Methods: We used a longitudinal, quantitative design with a follow-up after three months. Seventy-two participants completed a questionnaire-battery measuring illness appraisals, acceptance and non-acceptance coping-styles, quality of life, and death anxiety; 31 participants repeated the battery after three months.

Results: Acceptance was an independent explanatory and predictive variable for quality of life and death anxiety, in the direction of psychological health. Acceptance had greater explanatory power for outcomes than either cancer appraisals or avoidant response styles. Avoidant response styles were associated with greater death anxiety and poorer quality of life.

Conclusions: The findings support the role of an accepting response-style in favourable psychological outcomes, identifying a possible target for future psychological intervention. Response styles that might be encouraged in other therapies, such as active coping, planning, and positive reframing, were not associated with beneficial outcomes.

This analytical article points to the lack of retail business experience and knowledge which characterises many of the small shopkeepers across this country. It also makes clear how far the small independent retailer feels hounded by government and competition and suggests that help may be in order. Also contained here are the results of a pilot survey of prospective purchasers and vendors of small retail units and the article points to the need for further research into the birth and death of small retail businesses.

Woolco opened a superstore at Cwmbran in South Wales last October. The store is 9,290 sq metres in size and adds yet another major unit to an area which already contains a Carrefour at Caerphilly and an Asda at Rogerstone (Newport). The authors are involved in a programme of research which is attempting to monitor the impact on consumer behaviour and retail structure of this particular Woolco. Their findings on the consumer aspect were reported in RDM March/April 1975; this article outlines the attitudes of retailers outside the town's central area to the opening of the superstore.

In 1972 a Bill passed by the French Parliament inaugurated a scheme to give help to elderly and long‐experienced small retailers, in the form of direct grants and pension schemes. John Dawson has been assessing the effect of the legislation and the nature of the grants awarded.

The south Wales region is increasingly taking on a test‐tube character for assessing shopping patterns throughout the country as a whole. Cwmbran New Town, situated some five miles south of Pontypool and 16 miles north‐east of Cardiff, has been described as being “likely to be regarded as Britain's most successful out‐of‐town shopping centre.” Some 88% of planned retail floorspace is located in the town centre, the remainder being in eight neighbourhood shopping centres. In addition, the town is within the catchment area of the UK's first‐ever Carrefour, at Caerphilly; and an Asda unit at Rogerstone (Newport). A further major development is to be the arrival of a Woolco superstore of 100,000 sq ft, to be opened in the centre in the autumn; in addition there is likely to be a Marks & Spencer next year, plus a 50,000 sq ft supermarket for J.Sainsbury. Everybody, it seems, is coming to Cwmbran. This article sets out to examine patterns of shopping behaviour before these developments take place, and specifically consumer attitudes to the Woolco superstore. The authors conclude from their survey that neighbourhood centres will suffer a reduction in sales volume, and that in the town centre, blight may extend.

IN a recent Money programme on BBC TV Sir Monty Finniston was seen advocating the need for greater investment in industry as opposed to money being sent abroad to be invested either in Japanese industry or American real estate.

Since the early 1970s considerable interest has been focussed, by a variety of bodies in many countries, on the problems faced by small shop operators. The result has been an increased awareness of these problems by policy makers and planners at both the national and local level but there have been few attempts to solve the problems. The problems are neither new nor unique to Britain. In America, for instance, research in the 1930s defined particular problems and subsequent studies attempted to determine the future of the small shop in the American retail system. In contrast, the early British workers were concerned to describe the trading characteristics of small unit retailing and it was not until the publication of the Bolton Committee findings in 1971 that attention was focussed specifically on the operational problems of the small retail unit. As a consequence, British retail planning, in contrast to many other European countries, possesses few formal policies of direct relevance to the small shop.

The study investigated the frequency of adverse life events and prevalence of MD recorded for clients with intellectual disabilities (ID) in a medium secure unit, using data from an electronic patient record (EPR) system. Prevalence of MD was calculated on the basis of ICD‐10 diagnoses and a 38‐item checklist was developed to investigate adverse/traumatic life events for sub‐samples with and without MD. High rates of MD were reported overall, particularly of schizotypal and delusional disorders and disorders of personality. Adverse life events including abuse, bereavement and relationship difficulties had been documented by clinicians. The overall number of recorded events was significantly higher for clients diagnosed with a MD. Associations between MD and life events have been reported previously, but not in a forensic ID population. The study contributes to a growing body of literature highlighting the relationship between life events and mental health in people with ID, offering further information for service development and clinical practice.