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A psychometrically validated measure is needed to evaluate outcomes in carers of people with mental health problems, including dementia. This study aims to develop and validate the Carer well‐being and support questionnaire (CWS).

Development and evaluation of the measure was conducted in three phases. The authors deconstructed an existing questionnaire (CUES‐C) to produce a long version measure. This was trialed with carers to reduce the number of items and a preliminary evaluation of the psychometric properties of the remaining items was undertaken. A second field test was conducted with the item‐reduced questionnaire measure to evaluate acceptability, reliability and validity.

The CWS well‐being scale shows moderate acceptability and good reliability and validity. The CWS support scale shows moderate acceptability and good reliability; validity testing for the support scale is limited by the lack of appropriate validating measures.

The CWS is a reliable, valid measure of carer well‐being and support, reflecting important aspects of carers' lives.

This paper provides researchers and practitioners with a tool that can be used to measure and address areas of support for carers. This is important in assessing the effectiveness of new interventions and approaches.

The past decade has seen an expansion of psychological treatments available to patients in the NHS. Research into the effectiveness of psychological treatments is also increasing, but this evidence is often not known or used by practitioners. This paper describes the development of a local clinical practice guideline from the research evidence to assist local GPs and psychological practitioners in selecting the most appropriate of three commonly available psychological treatments for adult patients — brief counselling, cognitive behaviour therapy, and psychodynamic psychotherapy. The steps of the guideline development process and difficulties encountered are outlined, and the local dissemination and implementation process described. A survey of GPs and practice counsellors conducted a month following distribution of the guideline found that most recipients reported it useful with many also reporting having used it already in clinical practice. The limitations as well as strengths of this local guideline development process are discussed.

Prisoners are supposed to receive health care that is equivalent to that provided in the community. There is a high prevalence of mental ill health in prisons, and prisoners tend to have complex needs. Prison mental health care has received only limited attention until recently. The impact of the new in ‐reach teams appears to have been positive, but primary mental health care is weak across the prison estate and the vast majority of prisoners with mental health problems still receive little or no service. The development of prison mental health care has not been evidence‐based and there has been no policy implementation guidance that compares to that provided for reforms in services for the wider community. There is no model for prison mental health care and the role of the prison mental health practitioner is not well defined, nor is the health care workforce prepared for the task.

The purpose of this paper is to present corporate wellness (CW) as an approach to worker well-being and as distinct from workplace health promotion (WHP). Theoretical explanations of the contribution of CW and WHP to the economic and social legitimacy objectives of human resource management (HRM) serve to elucidate this distinction and also to highlight the problematic nature of CW. An alternative approach to worker well-being, firm performance and social legitimacy of the firm is discussed.

This is a review paper that analyses research into CW as a discrete approach to the management of people and compares this body of knowledge with ancillary studies of the impact of policies more commonly aligned with HRM in order to achieve the purpose of the paper.

The review is critical of CW as a means of achieving competitive advantage through people due to the probability of dysfunctional outcomes, namely exacerbating the health and well-being of the workforce, especially the mental health of workers.

Due to the sizeable investment in CW programmes, the paper advocates a focus on equity in pay, employment security and employee voice as an alterative means of enhancing the health of the workforce and the performance of the organisation.

This paper elaborates on recent critiques of worker well-being programmes (see e.g. Guest, 2017), offering a comprehensive and robust theoretical framework. The paper cites extensive evidence that improved pay, employment security and an effective voice in the workplace are more effective means of meeting the needs of the firm and improving worker well-being.

Ethical concerns about the use of the Mental Health Act (MHA) have led to calls for developmental disorders to be removed from the list of mental disorders for which individuals can be detained. In parallel, there are long-standing concerns of ethnic disparity in the application of the MHA. Nonetheless, the impact of the intersections of developmental disorder diagnosis, adolescence and ethnicity on the application of the MHA is unknown. This study aims to explore ethnic differences in MHA sections and the factors accounting for this, in an adolescent inpatient developmental disorder service.

File reviews were conducted to explore differences in MHA status, as well as demographic, clinical and risk factors that may account for this, between 39 white British and ethnic minority adolescents detained to a specialist inpatient developmental disorder service.

Consistent with adult literature, adolescents of an ethnic minority were overrepresented in the sample and were significantly more likely to be detained on Part III or “forensic” sections of the MHA than White British counterparts, with five times greater risk. Analyses revealed no significant differences between ethnic minority and white British participants on demographic variables, clinical needs, risk behaviours, risk measures nor application of restrictive practices and safeguarding procedures.

National audits exploring patterns of detention under the MHA across adolescent developmental disorder populations need to include analysis of intersections to ensure that the MHA is used as a means of last resort and in an equitable manner.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first comprehensive exploration of the impact of ethnicity on detention patterns in ethnic minority and White British populations.

The purpose of this study is to describe the characteristics of severely psychiatrically impaired adolescents requiring day hospital management and the effectiveness of the service using standardised outcome measures.

The data was collected on adolescents aged 13‐17 years in two London boroughs, attending the day service over a period of one year. Outcome measures were HoNOSCA, CGAS, SDQ and qualitative data from feedback forms from adolescents and parents.

The adolescents (n=22) had varied disorders, but mainly depression, (n=9) and psychosis (n=4). HoNOSCA score on admission was mean 18.14 (SD 3.78) but by discharge it had reduced to mean 15.39 (SD 7.31) (p=0.07), and CGAS reduced from initial mean score of 43.83 (SD 9.90) to 53.17 (SD 12.04) (p=0.003). Attendance for 19 (86 per cent) adolescents was for less than six months. Following discharge 14 (64 per cent) returned to education or employment. Adolescents and their carers reported high levels of satisfaction. The findings indicate substantial improvement and satisfaction with the service. The size of the improvement in outcome scores and the consistency across the HoNOSCA and CGAS associated with high service satisfaction also suggest that the data is reliable.

The small size of the sample and loss of data made it difficult to extrapolate from the results to other groups of impaired adolescents. There was no control group in the study and therefore it was not possible to demonstrate whether the improvement was due to spontaneous changes over time, Tier 3 CAMHS input or the attendance at the day service. It is difficult to demonstrate what proportion of adolescents who were admitted to the day service would have required a Tier 4 in patient admission had the service not been available. A larger study using a more robust design involving randomisation to the day‐service or in‐patient service would provide important comparative data regarding the service benefits.

Currently there is little provision for severely psychiatrically impaired adolescents who require a day treatment programme. Day patient programmes appear to offer a useful and accessible treatment method. The service is much cheaper than an in‐patient service, and may also reduce the demands for or duration of inpatient admission. Unfortunately the service did not obtain continuation funding in view of NHS funding cuts, rather than dissatisfaction by local commissioners, and so needed to close. The data presented here can hopefully be used to support the case for child and adolescent psychiatric day programmes.