Telephone Conference Calls Research Articles

A pilot study for a smartphone app for the prevention of depression in non-professional caregivers

Objectives The main objective of the current study was to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a cognitive-behavioral prevention intervention administered through a smartphone app in non-professional caregivers with symptoms of depression. The secondary objective was to make a preliminary evaluation of its effectiveness either alone or supplemented with telephone conference calls. Methods Eighty-seven participants (M age = 51.8 years) were randomly assigned to an app-based cognitive–behavioral intervention (CBIA; n = 29), CBIA supplemented with telephone conference calls (CBIA + CC; n = 28), or an attention control group (ACG; n = 30). The participants for both interventions received five cognitive–behavioral modules through the app, and those in CBIA + CC an additional 30-minute phone call in each module. Results 3.4% of caregivers dropped out. In all groups, the number of modules completed was high. Participants completed a high percentage of the homework and were highly satisfied with both CBIA and CBIA + CC. At post-intervention, there was a lower incidence of depression and depressive symptoms for CBIA + CC compared with CBIA, and for CBIA and CBIA + CC compared with ACG. Conclusion The results supported the feasibility and acceptability of the cognitive-behavioral intervention, and demonstrated that telephone contact improves its effectiveness.

Cognitive behavioral intervention via a smartphone app for non-professional caregivers with depressive symptoms: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

BackgroundAlthough major depression is a frequent disorder in non-professional caregivers and there are effective psychological interventions to prevent it, caregivers have difficulty accessing them. Interventions for depression applied through an app could improve accessibility; yet, to date, adherence to such interventions has been low. The objectives of this study are to (1) evaluate the efficacy of a cognitive behavioral depression prevention intervention administered through a smartphone app with and without telephone conference calls, (2) analyze the mediators of the change in the incidence of depression and depressive symptoms, and (3) assess adherence and satisfaction with the interventions.MethodsA randomized controlled clinical trial will be conducted. Caregivers with elevated symptoms will be randomly assigned to a cognitive behavioral intervention administered by a smartphone app (CBIA) group, a CBIA plus telephone conference calls (TCCs) group (CBIA + TCC), or an attention control group. Each condition will consist of approximately 58 participants. Both interventions will be administered in five modules through a smartphone app and the CBIA + TCC group will receive additional TCCs in group format (four sessions of 30 min each). Trained blind assessors will conduct pre-treatment, post-treatment and follow-up assessments at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months.DiscussionThis study will provide evidence of the efficacy of a cognitive behavioral intervention to prevent depression in caregivers with elevated depressive symptoms administered through a smartphone app and the impact of feedback applied through conference calls to increase program adherence and efficacy. If the results were favorable, it would mean that we have developed a more effective, accessible, and clinically useful preventive depression intervention than the currently available ones for many present and future caregivers.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov: NCT03110991. Registered 5 April 2017.

Readiness Leads to Fast MH Response at Navy Yard

Readiness Leads to Fast MH Response at Navy Yard

The Continuing Professional Development for Nurses and Allied Health Professionals Working Within Musculoskeletal Services: A National UK Survey

To explore the current UK status of continuing professional development (CPD) for nurses and allied health professionals (AHPs) working in musculoskeletal (MSK) services in the UK. A web-based survey was developed and used to collect data from service managers, nurses and AHPs who work with people who have MSK conditions, recruited through professional interest groups via email and website notices. The questionnaire was designed following focus groups and telephone conference calls with managers and AHPs from MSK services to ensure content validity. Results were collected online and analysed in SPSS PASW 17 using frequency data and χ² analyses. A total of 354 responses were analysed. The most frequently reported reason for undertaking CPD was to improve patient care. The level of staff experience made no significant difference to the CPD activities undertaken. The majority of respondents reported that their organization was supportive of CPD activities and in applying new knowledge to practice, but lack of funding and having too many other tasks to complete at work were the most frequently reported barriers to CPD. Many commented about the difficulty in accessing CPD in the face of increasing workload pressure and tightened budgets. The results indicate that despite the organizational support for CPD, respondents faced substantial challenges in accessing CPD when under pressure to achieve productivity targets, with little assistance in terms of funding. This discrepancy may indicate that greater support is required to meet MSK nurses' and AHPs' CPD needs.

Providing peer-based social support for caregivers of spouses with dementia using telephone conference calls

Telephone conference calls can be efficacious in providing peer support for caregiver groups; we wished to investigate spousal caregivers of patients with Alzheimer's Disease, and to examine the effect of peer support on psychosocial wellbeing. A within-subjects design was employed, with baseline levels of depression, anxiety, loneliness and stress compared with levels obtained following a six-week telephone support group. 8 caregivers of spouses with Alzheimer's Disease participated in twice-weekly themed conference calls for six weeks. The themes were set using a pre-recorded broadcast to start each phone call. The calls were unstructured and participant-led. The results of the current study confirmed the efficacy of telephone conference calls for reducing the psychosocial impact of caregiving for a spouse with dementia. The medium of conference calling was also discussed, with participants finding difficulty using the software, and also in conversational turn-taking in an auditory-only format. While caregivers reported that they appreciated the peer support available in this study, there were some practical issues in the use of the telephone as a medium. However, caregivers also reported that the use of the telephone was more convenient for them than travelling to a support meeting. For this reason, telephone conference calls represent a useful and efficacious source of support for caregivers of spouses with dementia.

Summary of Suggestions From the Task Force for Mass Critical Care Summit, January 26–27, 2007

2008;133;1S-7S Chest Geiling and Lewis Rubinson Asha Devereaux, Michael D. Christian, Jeffrey R. Dichter, James A. * 27, 2007 − January 26 Force for Mass Critical Care Summit, Summary of Suggestions From the Task http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/content/133/5_suppl/1S.full.html services can be found online on the World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and ISSN:0012-3692 ) http://chestjournal.chestpubs.org/site/misc/reprints.xhtml ( written permission of the copyright holder. this article or PDF may be reproduced or distributed without the prior Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL 60062. All rights reserved. No part of Copyright2008by the American College of Chest Physicians, 3300 Physicians. It has been published monthly since 1935. is the official journal of the American College of Chest Chest

Will We Ring the Bell? Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) with the Salvation Army

This article describes an "experimental" Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program, designed for eight Salvation Army Officers [Ministers] who were located in cities from Washington, DC to Antonio, Texas. The four Consecutive Units were accomplished over a two year span, with most of the work taking place by e-mail and long-distance telephone conference calls. One of the important questions to be answered is, "Can CPE be done mostly long-distance"?

It Can Be Learned, but Can It Be Taught?

Objective: To evaluate clinicians' knowledge of the dual diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder (SUD) before and after a six-month intensive state-wide training on this topic. Methods:225 clinicians in seven community-based substance abuse and mental health agencies in Connecticut completed a knowledge test on PTSD and SUD before and after the intensive training program. They also completed a measure of their professional and personal characteristics. The intensive program on PTSD and SUD included three full days of training, monthly on-site consultation meetings, and weekly telephone conference calls. All seven agencies implemented Seeking Safety, a manual-based intervention designed for PTSD and SUD, and the training focused on that treatment model as well as more general PTSD-SUD information. Results: Clinicians' knowledge increased significantly from pre-to post-training, but only by 5%. At pre-training, their knowledge was already relatively high (68% of items correct). However, knowledge of basic facts on trauma and PTSD were known by only a minority of the sample even after the intensive training. Clinicians' professional and personal characteristics (e.g., degree, experience, age, gender) were not associated with their knowledge levels, nor was their own experience of trauma, PTSD, or SUD. Conclusions: It is unclear what educational methods might be most effective to teach clinicians about the dual diagnosis of PTSD and SUD. Knowledge levels on this topic range widely, and the small increase observed in this study suggests the need for further study and innovation. Evaluation of knowledge in relation to clinical practice is also needed.

Using the telephone as a community language center

For otherwise isolated speakers and learners, regularly scheduled telephone conference calls provide a way to develop communication skills in the target language. This article describes the approach, structure, and content of a University of Alaska Fairbanks distance delivery class in Deg Xinag. Deg Xinag, a Dene (Athabaskan) language with 25 remaining speakers, is the language of the Deg Hit'an people in interior Alaska, USA. For the past ®ve years, weekly telephone conference calls convene 2±3 speakers and 5±10 students. During these classes, learners have the opportunity to hear ¯uent conversation and to request and practice phrases that they need to use in building their own communication skills. Students and speakers develop and share insights into the grammar of Deg Xinag. Participation by both speakers and learners has grown over the years. Learners are making measurable progress. Via telephone we are able to come together on a regular basis as a small language community.

On-site to on-line: barriers to the use of computers for continuing education.

Continuing education/continuing medical education (CE/CME) programs that adopt self-directed, computer-based instruction formats via the Internet or CD-ROM can ease the demands placed on clinicians who are required by licensing boards to accumulate CE/CME credits as part of their career-long learning. Despite the benefits and availability of computer-based instruction, on-site programs still dominate current CE/CME delivery modes. In order to increase the use of computer-based CE/CME programs, it is important to identify the barriers that inhibit their use. A survey was conducted to assess the practices, preferences, and barriers to use of CE/CME delivery methods among physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants in Nevada. Of 3,213 surveys sent, 1,120 were completed and returned for an overall response rate of 35%. In-person conferences (93%) and print-based methods (66%) were the most frequently reported methods of acquiring CE/CME. The majority of respondents had access to computer-based technologies. Respondents with more years in clinical practice were less likely to have access to or to use computer-based technologies. The top three preferred CE/CME delivery modes, in rank order, were in-person conferences, print-based self-study, and CD-ROM. The least preferred method of receiving CE/CME was interactive audioconference (telephone conference calls). "Not knowing how" was the most frequently reported reason for not using the Internet for computer-based training and the second most frequent reason for not using a CD-ROM. Program planners may wish to offer training in new technologies during on-site conferences, provide CD-ROMs as take-home instructional materials, or promote technology awareness in other ways to help clinicians prepare for changes in the electronic delivery of health care and education.

An Empirical Examination of Conference Calls as a Voluntary Disclosure Medium

Corporate conference calls are large-scale telephone conference calls during which managers make presentations to and answer questions from various market participants, usually about earnings. In this paper, we sample 1,056 corporate conference calls made by 808 firms during February-November 1995 to provide evidence on three questions: (1) whether conference calls provide information to stock market participants, (2) whether investors have equal access to the information provided during these calls, and (3) why managers of some firms hold conference calls while managers of other firms do not. We believe this research is important because managers' use of conference calls has grown enormously, yet we know little about how these calls affect investors.1

A study of collaboration among medical informatics research laboratories

The InterMed Collaboratory involves five medical institutions (Stanford University, Columbia University, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and McGill University) whose mandate has been to join in the development of shared infrastructural software, tools, and system components that will facilitate and support the development of diverse, institution-specific applications. Collaboration among geographically distributed organizations with different goals and cultures provides significant challenges. One experimental question, underlying all that InterMed has set out to achieve, is whether modern communication technologies can effectively bridge such cultural and geographical gaps, allowing the development of shared visions and cooperative activities so that the end results are greater than any one group could have accomplished on its own. In this paper we summarize the InterMed philosophy and mission, describe our progress over 3 years of collaborative activities, and present study results regarding the nature of the evolving collaborative processes, the perceptions of the participants regarding those processes, and the role that telephone conference calls have played in furthering project goals. Both informal introspection and more formal evaluative work, in which project participants became subjects of study by our evaluation experts from McGill, helped to shift our activities from relatively unfocused to more focused efforts while allowing us to understand the facilitating roles that communications technologies could play in our activities. Our experience and study results suggest that occasional face-to-face meetings are crucial precursors to the effective use of distance communications technologies; that conference calls play an important role in both task-related activities and executive (project management) activities, especially when clarifications are required; and that collaborative productivity is highly dependent upon the gradual development of a shared commitment to a well-defined task that leverages the varying expertise of both local and distant colleagues in the creation of tools of broad utility across the participating sites.

Connecting group members through telephone and computer groups.

Telephone conference calls and computer-assisted groups are innovative means of offering health and mental health services. This article reviews the practice literature on the use of technology-based groups and presents the results of a survey of group practitioners that focused on their experiences with telephone and computer groups, their knowledge and comfort levels with these groups, and their perspectives on the benefits and problems of using technology in group practice. Benefits of using this technology included increased accessibility, convenience, and anonymity; problems were decreased cues, technological issues, and group process difficulties. Implications of using telephone and computer technology for group practice, particularly in health settings, are discussed.

Participation in teleconference support groups: application to drug-using pregnant patients.

This paper describes our experience using telephone conference calls to conduct support groups for chemically-dependent women. Forty-seven women agreed to participate in regular, weekly support groups that were conducted by two chemical dependency counselors. Counselors attempted to conduct 59 support groups via a telephone conferencing system. Our data indicated that attendance at these sessions was poor. Seventeen sessions had no participants. No group sessions were attended by 4 or more women, and only 3 sessions (7.1%) included 3 participants. Very few clients made regular use of the support groups. Only 4 clients (8.5%) participated in more than 3 group sessions. Our findings suggest that teleconferencing may not be the most effective method for providing support services to chemically-dependent women.

Effect of a training programme to reduce stress in carers of patients with dementia.

To reduce the psychological stress and improve the skills in coping of people who care for relatives with dementia. Assessment and suitability of carers by questionnaire; assessment of patients and carers in a hospital outpatient clinic; allocation to groups according to date of application to study. Linkage of groups of four carers and programme coordinator by telephone conference calls over 12 months after programmes. Reassessment at three, six, 12, and, for those in the "wait list" group, 18 months. The programmes were conducted in the psychiatry unit of a Sydney teaching hospital. Eligible patients were less than 80 years old, had mild to moderate dementia, and lived at home with their carer. Of the 96 patient-carer pairs in the study, 33 were in the dementia carers' programme group, 31 were in the memory retraining group, and 32 were in the wait list group. Carers in the dementia carers' programme received training in coping with the difficulties of looking after patients with dementia while the patients had sessions in subjects such as memory retraining. In the memory retraining programme patients were admitted and received the patient component of the carers' programme while their carers had 10 days' respite. In the wait list group carers waited six months before undertaking the carers' programme. Effect of the programmes on carers' general health questionnaire scores and the rate of placement of patients in institutions. At 12 months' follow up the carers' programme had resulted in significantly lower psychological stress among carers than the memory retraining programme (mean (SD) general health questionnaire scores at 0 months were 6.31 (6.23) and 3.60 (6.25) respectively, and at 12 months were 4.69 (5.58) and 7.40 (9.39); p less than 0.05.) In the wait list group distress scores remained stable, even after the carers and patients had undertaken the carers' programme. Patients deteriorated over 12 months regardless of group allocation, but at 30 months, allowing for patients who died and could not be included in the analysis, 65% of patients in the carers' programme group were still living at home compared with 26% in the memory retraining programme group. The intensive intervention programme described for carers of patients with dementia can reduce the psychological morbidity of the carer and delay the placement of the patient in an institution without increasing the use of health services by either patient or carer.

Changing dentists’ knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors relating to AIDS: a controlled educational intervention

The efficacy of an educational intervention designed to improve dentists' knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors about acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was tested. The intervention had three components: computerized feedback comparing participants' own knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors with those of fellow participants and with an ideal; periodic bulletins; and telephone conference calls with experts. The group receiving the educational package had better scores than a control group on outcomes of willingness to treat persons with AIDS; identification of human immunodeficiency virus lesions; knowledge of AIDS; and completeness of both intraoral and extraoral examinations. It was concluded that intervention is one approach to increasing dentists' positive response to the AIDS epidemic.

The efficacy of electronic group meetings

Telephone conference calls could be used to extend participation in public decision-making. In order to clarify the involved problems and prospects we conducted 16 nine-member conference calls discussing and voting on a public issue. The discussions were recorded for analysis and a questionnaire was administered. The meetings worked well despite the isolation of the participants and the lack of visual contact. Access to the floor was easy, attention good, and participation was eager. The participants felt that the analysis of the topic had been effective. The chairman's guidance of the discussion was judged effective, and his actions legitimate. Additionally, the data suggest what we might call greater “intellectual elbow room”—less pressure to go along with the group opinion than in face-to-face meetings, and more ease in changing opinions and positions. The disagreements about the issue did not spill over into emotional hostility. The participants were quite pleased with the conduct and efficacy of the electronic meetings. These findings suggest that a mass participatory system, based upon such electronic meetings, can also be used to provide wider involvement in decision-making in our society.