What is an intervention?

Question 1

What are the APA definitions for an intervention

Answer 1

an action ( on the part of a psychotherapist) intended to interfere with and stop or modify a process - atreatment undertaken to stop, manage or alter the course of the pathological procedss of a disease or disorder

An expiremntal manipulation in a research design

Question 2

What is the point of an intervention?

Answer 2

To attempt to solve a problem

Question 3

How can theory be used to decide what factors are important to focus on, to help to solve a problem?

Answer 3

It gives a basis for how the condition occurs (how it may develop) & follows what we can potentially use to stop the condition / problem occuring

Question 4

What else does theory do in terms of intervention?

Answer 4

Helps us indetify key variables which may be important to target during an intervention to help patient improving

Question 5

How do we evaluate interventions to see wether they work?

Answer 5

(RCTs) - compare the intervention against somehting else ( usual care, no intervention or another active intervention) to see wether intervention is better or worse (in terms of patient outcomes)

Question 6

What is Change4Life (PHE) an example of?

Answer 6

A public health behaviour change intervention

Question 7

What did change4life aim to do?

Answer 7

Redudce childhood obesity

Question 8

Who did change4life target?

Answer 8

parents & primary school children

Question 9

What are the advantages of public health campaigns?

Answer 9

• Widely accessible
• Raises awarenss
• Reaches minorities
• Can encourage change on a societal level
• Can reach a lot of people at the same time
• Cost effective

Question 10

What are the disadvanatges of public health campaign?

Answer 10

• No link nto physical, intellectual, emotional & social needs
• Barriers to making changes (not being able to afford healthy food)
• Messagaes may not reach everyone
• Vague & easy to ignore
• Not personalised

Question 11

Why was change4life introduced - what were the problems?

Answer 11

– 61% adults & 28% Children were obese

– Overweight & obesity = associated w a higher risk of type 2 diabetes, heart diseases & certain cancers

– Obesity related health problems cost the NHS >£5 billion every year

Question 12

What was the intervention for change 4 life?

Answer 12

• Encourage people to be more active & eat & drink healthier ( calorie info on menues, food packaging)
• Sugar Tax

Question 13

What was the point of the intervention (Change4Life)?

Answer 13

To reduce weight & therefore redyce associated health problems ( reduce MHS treatment costs)

Question 14

Was change4life really effective?

Answer 14

• Evidence = hard to find
• Difficult to evaluate public health campaigns - hard to fund a control group that wasn’t exposed to the intervention

Question 15

What did Croker et al do (2012)?

Answer 15

RCT of Change4Life campaign - he found increased awarenss, but little change in attitude or behaviour

Question 16

Who did a quasi experiment study - in which short term behaviour change found “smart swaps” but may not be sustainable?

Answer 16

Wrieden & Levy (2006)

Question 17

What iis behaviour activation?

Answer 17

A form of CBT - focuses more directly ono the behavioural aspects of a condition

Question 18

Where is behaviour actuvation usually used?

Answer 18

NHS - way of treating depression & can be used for other mental & physical health conditions

Question 19

What is an example of BA for depression?

Answer 19

• Analysis of the person’s problem
• Shared understanding and addressing the ‘problem’ behaviours = keep the person in the depresive cycle
• Shared identifcation of meaningful, goal-oriented behaviour

Question 20

What was the problem that led to using BA

Answer 20

• Clinical depression = recurrent, debilitating condiotion w a global prevelance of 6%
• In the UK - annual costs of depression & anxiety are arounf £17bn

Question 21

What is the intervention for Dep?

Answer 21

BA = Simple - easy for patients to understand & operationalise

Question 22

How do we know BA is effective?

Answer 22

• Compare it against something else & measure patient outcomes
• Randomised controlled trial BA v CBT COBRA trial (Rhodes et al)

Question 23

What were the groups like (in the CBT v BA experiment)?

Answer 23

• 440 participants randomised
• 221 BA
• 219 CBT
• Each group was assesed at 6, 12 & 18 months

Question 24

How were results found?

Answer 24

• Depression scores at 12 months follow up were compared

Question 25

What was found in the COBRA trials?

Answer 25

• No difference was found betwwen the groups ( both CBT & BA = equally effective)

Question 26

What are the advantages of individual level interventions?

Answer 26

• Allows for understanding of the individual & can target specific behaviours
• Personalised = more effective in treating subjective experiences
• Easier to change specific behaviours ( bc it = tailored to specific behaviours)
• Ppl = happier being honest ab their problesm & motivation in an individual setting

Question 27

What are the disadvanted of individual level interventiionns?

Answer 27

• Therapist may not have indight into individuals life & circumstances
• More costly
• Relies on client therapist relationship
• May feel targeted
• Time consuming
• Less cost effective - one therapist per person
• Other factors may impact an outcome