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The purpose of this paper is to outline what is known about the prevalence, causes and treatment of depression for people with learning disabilities, with a focus on psychosocial interventions.

This is a narrative review, and will provide evidence-based guidance for practitioners and those managing service delivery.

Depression is just as prevalent among people with learning disabilities as it is in the wider population and they are frequently exposed to known vulnerability factors for low mood such as lack of social support and purposeful activity. Yet there remains a paucity of evidence about effective interventions for depression.

Growing evidence about the effectiveness of psychological interventions for people with learning disabilities and depression is promising but insufficient. To make meaningful change, there also needs to be an implementation strategy that encompasses the broader context of people’s lives, including family, care and work settings.

To evaluate the effectiveness of an adaptation of Interpersonal Group Psychotherapy (IPT-G), in facilitating short- and longer-term improvements in eating disorder symptomology, psychosocial impairment, anxiety, depression and attachment difficulties among adults living with overweight and diagnosed with binge eating disorder (BED).

In total, 24 participants completed measures at the start of IPT-G, mid-treatment, discharge and six-month follow-up. Quantitative outcomes were analysed utilising one-way repeated measures analysis of variance.

Treatment retention was 100%. Significant improvements in binge-eating frequency, psychosocial impairment and depression were achieved at mid-treatment and maintained at post-treatment and six-month follow-up, and with large effect sizes. Attachment anxiety had reduced significantly at post-treatment and was maintained at six-month review. Body mass index (BMI) had stabilised by mid-treatment and was maintained at post-treatment and six-month follow-up. All hypotheses were supported, with the exception that attachment avoidance did not improve significantly and following a post-treatment reduction, anxiety symptoms deteriorated slightly by six-month follow-up, such that they were no longer significantly different from pre-treatment levels.

Despite being the most prevalent of the eating disorders (compared to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa), BED is under-recognised and under-treated in clinical settings. Results indicate the sustained effectiveness of IPT-G in improving eating disorder and comorbid symptomology associated with BED.

This is the first UK study to investigate the effectiveness of IPT-G at treating BED. Unlike previous studies in the field, this study did not exclude participants based on age, BMI or psychiatric comorbidity.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the impacts of earthquakes on schools and education services and demonstrate the critical role that information and communication technologies (ICTs) can play in supporting the continuity of education delivery during temporary school closures after seismic events.

This paper relies on a conceptual analysis that shows the potential role of the online educational environment during post-earthquake school closures by relying on the available ICT tools.

This paper proposes a pro-active strategy for schools that transforms traditional education into an online learning environment to restore education delivery during school closures after earthquake which disrupts face-to-face teaching and denies students and staffs access to schools.

The sustainability of education delivery in the aftermath of earthquakes presents a challenge to governments, schools, people and communities. This paper contributes to the literature by demonstrating the role of online learning in sustaining educational delivery services after moderate earthquakes.

Communications regarding this column should be addressed to Mrs. Cheney, Peabody Library School, Nashville, Term. 37203. Mrs. Cheney does not sell the books listed here. They are available through normal trade sources. Mrs. Cheney, being a member of the editorial board of Pierian Press, will not review Pierian Press reference books in this column. Descriptions of Pierian Press reference books will be included elsewhere in this publication.

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 Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme was established to treat people with mild to moderate depression and anxiety and bring them to recovery. Although the Positive Practice Guide for people with intellectual disabilities was published in 2009, no geographical areas are listed as having a special interest in specifically rolling out IAPT to people with intellectual disabilities. Issues related to whether current IAPT services can meet the needs of people with intellectual disabilities are considered, along with adaptations that would be needed to ensure the service is accessible and meets the needs of people with intellectual disabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential benefits that books, and specifically memoirs, may offer mental health students, positing that first person testimonials may make the complex experiences of a mental health challenge, in this case eating disorders (ED), accessible to learners.

The paper presents a pedagogical approach, based on transformative learning (TL), to assist in encouraging the development of a Recovery Approach in students. TL is a pedagogy that is interested in problematic practices that keep afflicting an area such as mental health, such as the imbalanced focus on learning illness rather than wellbeing, and in pondering and revising the educational solutions.

The paper proposes that forward movement in this area will be based on considering and developing such innovative curricula, and researching its impact.

By virtue of their accessibility, memoirs could offer to a large audience the benefits of universality, empathy, hope and guidance. Teachers and learners could be making use of these books in face-to-face or online activities. This paper explores the groundwork that is needed before ED memoirs can be confidently recommended as an empowering tool.

Despite the emergence of NICE guidelines regarding the effectiveness and appropriateness of psychological therapies for the majority of common mental health problems, access to these services is still dramatically underdeveloped and uneven. Estimates of untreated problems such as depression and anxiety in primary care signal the extent of these problems and the scale of investment in new services, if these needs are to be adequately met in the future.The Department of Health's and the Care Services Improvement Partnership's (CSIP) Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme sets out a framework and a series of co‐ordinated actions, including two national demonstration sites, to begin to address these issues in England.This paper examines the origins and policy drivers that have given rise to the IAPT programme, outlines the progress to date and specifically assesses the implications for the mental health workforce of this programme. Issues addressed include the workforce profiles of existing services, career frameworks for psychological therapists, the capacity of training providers to train new and existing staff in psychological therapies and the challenges implicit in devising a workforce delivery plan to support the IAPT programme.

This article aims to demonstrate a different approach to identify and assess adolescents experiencing mental health problems, within a school setting. Presently we rely on primary care professionals to identify mental health problems and adolescents are often reluctant to access such services. One of the benefits of utilising a mental health surveillance screening tool is to identify mental health problems in adolescents and to implement early intervention.

A cross‐sectional survey of school pupils from a secondary school was conducted, using the Paediatric Symptom Checklist for Youths (PSCY). The self‐administered questionnaire was completed and identified adolescents were then assessed by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). Out of 247 pupils, 84 per cent of the adolescents completed the questionnaire.

From the screening tool, 25 per cent were identified for assessment. During their assessment 64 per cent of the young people were given self‐help guides and health promotion advice. The remaining 26 per cent of the adolescents were provided treatment sessions by CAMHS or by Children's Service Worker. Only 10 per cent of these adolescents had been previously seen within the CAMHS.

The PSCY is a useful tool for identifying and assessing adolescents with mental health problems. However, these results are the preliminary findings of a feasibility study. This subject area is a rich source for future research.

Findings from this project will influence wider mental health surveillance of our adolescent population.

This approach will also influence future service provision, for such a vulnerable population.

No comparative studies of this nature were found in the United Kingdom.