An online supported self-management toolkit for relatives of people with psychosis or bipolar experiences: the IMPART multiple case study

There were many factors impacting on implementation of the toolkit, including high staff caseloads, technical difficulties and lack of training, but staff and relatives were generally positive about the concept.  Click here for further details. 

9 Signs You've Ignored Your Mental Health For Too Long - Bustle

If you tend to just power through life’s inevitable difficulties, then you probably know how to get things done. But sometimes, this behavior can make it easy to ignore your own emotional or psychological distress. Read website article here

Online Self-Management Helpful for Anxiety, Depression and Pain

Emerging research suggests that for some individuals, online symptom self-management plus clinician telecare is the best strategy for treating anxiety, depression and pain.  Click here to read further.

Mid-point mental health: why are we all feeling so flat?

Our increasingly busy worlds can leave us in an uneasy in-between stage when it comes to mental health. Click here for article piece

Self-rating mental health as 'good' predicts positive future mental health

Researchers have found that when a person rates their current mental health as 'positive' despite meeting criteria for a mental health problem such as depression, it can predict good mental health in the future, even without treatment.  Click here to read further.

Self-help book works to combat burnout and stress -- without a therapist

Around a third of all employees find their work stressful. Interventions for stress and burnout are available, but often not accessible for many employees. A self-help book based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) has the potential to reduce burnout, stress and symptoms of depression - without any therapist contact.  Click here for article.

Physiotherapy app wins top rehabilitation award

A physiotherapy company specialising in the assessment and treatment of musculoskeletal conditions has won the Rehabilitation First training award for its ‘one-stop shop’ healthcare app.

The device includes a secure self-help and education website as well as tailored video exercise regimes, instant messaging, blogs and webinars.

It also offers a visual triage service which enables clinicians to see their patient and make a detailed on-the-spot assessment of their condition. They can then send patients tailored video exercises and check on screen they are being followed correctly.

Diabetes UK Consensus Guideline for Flash Glucose Monitoring

Flash glucose monitoring (Flash GM) is a new technology that has recently been made available on the NHS Drugs Tariff. This means in principle it is available to people with diabetes in the UK on
NHS prescription. It is important that healthcare professionals and local health decision makers
are aware of the new technology so that they can make sure that people with diabetes have access
to Flash GM in their local area.

Colchester trust launches falls prevention film

Colchester Hospital University NHS Trust has created a 13-minute film to help patients recover from a fall and to minimise the risk of future falls.

Asthma action plans for HCPs working with non-English speakers

Asthma UK has responded to requests for non-English asthma action plans from healthcare professionals, pointing to the need for more health information in translation to help patients from ethnic minority populations to manage their asthma more effectively.

Can a supported self-management program for COPD upon hospital discharge reduce readmissions? A randomized controlled trial

Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2016 Jun 2;11:1161-9. doi: 10.2147/COPD.S91253. eCollection 2016.

Patients with COPD experience exacerbations that may require hospitalization. Patients do not always feel supported upon discharge and frequently get readmitted. A Self-management Program of Activity, Coping, and Education for COPD (SPACE for COPD), a brief self-management program, may help address this issue.

SPACE for COPD did not reduce readmission rates at 3 months above that of usual care. However, encouraging results were seen in secondary outcomes for those receiving the intervention. Importantly, SPACE for COPD appears to be safe and may help prevent readmission with 30 days.

UHCW Research: C. Gelder, V. Johnson-Warrington

Low back pain and sciatica in over 16s quality standard

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has today set out its priorities for implementing guidance on low back pain and sciatica in people over 16.

The quality statements refer to the implementation of updated NICE guidelines, published in 2016.

Enabling change through communities of practice: Wellbeing Our Way

In June 2014, National Voices set out to explore and test how communities of practice could facilitate the spread of large-scale change across England’s voluntary sector working for health and wellbeing.

Wellbeing Our Way was born from the belief that voluntary and community sector organisations, alongside people with long-term health needs, can play a powerful role in creating a health and care ‘system’ which works for everyone: a system which values people’s strengths, is based in their communities, and enables people to make decisions based on their personal preferences and priorities.

The High Intensity User Project at North East Essex CCG

North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group (NEE CCG) has been undertaking an exciting piece of work ‘The High Intensity User (HIU)’ project, looking at frequent users of local health services and empowering those individuals to take ownership of their health and well-being whilst decreasing their dependency upon unscheduled care services.

The HIU Project builds on a previous pilot which considered a cohort of 3 patients. Evaluation of this pilot proved that following intervention, after the creation and initiation of a care plan, all activities for 2 out of 3 patients decreased to zero.

Mental Health Peer Navigators Can Help Others in Need

Investigators at the University of Southern California (USC) believe a new care model can enhance the physical health and extend the lives of people with mental illness, who typically die 25 years earlier than the general population.

In a study published in Schizophrenia Research, investigators suggest the magic bullet may involve peer navigators. These trained role models use their life experience with recovery from mental illness, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or depression, to help motivate others who could self-manage their own health needs.

Improving The Wellbeing of People with Opioid Treated Chronic Pain – The I-Wotch Study Protocol

BJP ASM Poster Abstracts 2017. First Published May 3, 2017 

I-WOTCH will evaluate the effectiveness and cost effectiveness of a patient-centred multicomponent self-management intervention for people living with chronic non-malignant pain, that targets withdrawal of strong opioids on activities of daily living and opioid related adverse events.

UHCW Research: Shyam Balasubramanian

Reading Well to improve your mental wellbeing

A series of free books to help people to improve their mental wellbeing are now available in libraries across Cumbria.

The books, published under a series called Reading Well, are aimed at adults experiencing common mental health problems have been endorsed by health professionals in partnership with Cumbria County Council Library Services.

Testing times: restrictions accessing test strips and meters for people with diabetes

Diabetes UK - 
This report highlights the difficulties that patients have been experiencing in accessing blood sugar monitoring equipment. The survey of patients found that a quarter of respondents had experienced restrictions and that over half of those who had experienced restrictions have type 1 diabetes.

• Report

Men find self-testing acceptable to test for sexually transmitted infections

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are common and treatable but men are more reluctant than women to have a test. Self-testing is known to be accurate, but can men use this more?

Most men aged 18-35 would be willing to collect and send off a urine sample using a kit to test for STIs, according to a national survey. GP surgeries were the most popular place to collect kits, followed by pharmacies and sexual health clinics.

Other venues might be useful extra places to distribute testing kits and increase their use. About half of young men play football, and half of them are willing to collect kits from the club they play at. Extra advice from a health advisor or team captain does not seem to increase the use of these tests. However, none of the 90 men tested in this study had an infection, so football clubs may not be the best place to find men with undetected STIs.

Mobilising Communities: Insights on Community Action for Health and Wellbeing

This report explores insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing. It focuses on helping people help themselves; creating opportunities for people to help one another; and creating value between the professional and social spheres. 

This report gathers a wide range of insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing.
Key findings

These three main insights were found to be the most important to making a difference on the ground:

• Helping people help themselves
• Creating opportunities for people to help one another
• Creating value between the professional and social spheres - helping health and care

Mobilising Communities was a short, experimental programme aimed at exploring the practical applications of the idea of ‘social movements’ in health in three communities in England.

- See more at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/mobilising-communities-insights-community-action-health-and-wellbeing#sthash.tj0xeVJX.dpuf

This report gathers a wide range of insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing.
Key findings

These three main insights were found to be the most important to making a difference on the ground:

• Helping people help themselves
• Creating opportunities for people to help one another
• Creating value between the professional and social spheres - helping health and care

Mobilising Communities was a short, experimental programme aimed at exploring the practical applications of the idea of ‘social movements’ in health in three communities in England.

- See more at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/mobilising-communities-insights-community-action-health-and-wellbeing#sthash.tj0xeVJX.dpuf

This report gathers a wide range of insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing.
Key findings

These three main insights were found to be the most important to making a difference on the ground:

• Helping people help themselves
• Creating opportunities for people to help one another
• Creating value between the professional and social spheres - helping health and care

Mobilising Communities was a short, experimental programme aimed at exploring the practical applications of the idea of ‘social movements’ in health in three communities in England.

- See more at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/mobilising-communities-insights-community-action-health-and-wellbeing#sthash.tj0xeVJX.dpuf

This report gathers a wide range of insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing.
Key findings

These three main insights were found to be the most important to making a difference on the ground:

• Helping people help themselves
• Creating opportunities for people to help one another
• Creating value between the professional and social spheres - helping health and care

Mobilising Communities was a short, experimental programme aimed at exploring the practical applications of the idea of ‘social movements’ in health in three communities in England.

- See more at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/mobilising-communities-insights-community-action-health-and-wellbeing#sthash.tj0xeVJX.dpufff

This report gathers a wide range of insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing.
Key findings

These three main insights were found to be the most important to making a difference on the ground:

• Helping people help themselves
• Creating opportunities for people to help one another
• Creating value between the professional and social spheres - helping health and care

Mobilising Communities was a short, experimental programme aimed at exploring the practical applications of the idea of ‘social movements’ in health in three communities in England.

- See more at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/mobilising-communities-insights-community-action-health-and-wellbeing#sthash.tj0xeVJX.dpuf

This report gathers a wide range of insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing.
Key findings

These three main insights were found to be the most important to making a difference on the ground:

• Helping people help themselves
• Creating opportunities for people to help one another
• Creating value between the professional and social spheres - helping health and care

Mobilising Communities was a short, experimental programme aimed at exploring the practical applications of the idea of ‘social movements’ in health in three communities in England.

- See more at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/mobilising-communities-insights-community-action-health-and-wellbeing#sthash.tj0xeVJX.dpuf

This report gathers a wide range of insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing.
Key findings

These three main insights were found to be the most important to making a difference on the ground:

• Helping people help themselves
• Creating opportunities for people to help one another
• Creating value between the professional and social spheres - helping health and care

Mobilising Communities was a short, experimental programme aimed at exploring the practical applications of the idea of ‘social movements’ in health in three communities in England.

- See more at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/mobilising-communities-insights-community-action-health-and-wellbeing#sthash.tj0xeVJX.dpuf

This report gathers a wide range of insights taken from three community sites on how to implement a people powered approach to health and wellbeing.
Key findings

These three main insights were found to be the most important to making a difference on the ground:

• Helping people help themselves
• Creating opportunities for people to help one another
• Creating value between the professional and social spheres - helping health and care

Mobilising Communities was a short, experimental programme aimed at exploring the practical applications of the idea of ‘social movements’ in health in three communities in England.

- See more at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/mobilising-communities-insights-community-action-health-and-wellbeing#sthash.tj0xeVJX.dpuf