Mel Simmonds-Buckley

The University of Sheffield | Sheffield · Clinical Psychology Unit

Despite the ubiquity of guided self-help (GSH) interventions in Primary Care psychological services, there have been no previous studies of the relationship between the competence of qualified practitioners and treatment outcomes. This study compared competence-outcome associations in two types of GSH. Competence and clinical outcome measures were...

Despite the ubiquity of guided self-help (GSH) interventions in Primary Care psychological services, there have been no previous studies of the relationship between the competence of qualified practitioners and treatment outcomes. This study compared competence-outcome associations in two types of GSH. Competence and clinical outcome measures were...

Objectives Given the ubiquity in routine services of low‐intensity guided self‐help (GSH) psychological interventions, better patient selection for these brief interventions would be organizationally efficient. This study therefore sought to define who would respond best to two different types of GSH for anxiety to enable better future treatment ma...

Background and Hypothesis There has been a century-long debate about whether the major psychoses (eg, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and schizoaffective disorder) are one disorder with various manifestations or different disease entities. Traditional approaches using dimensional models have not provided decisive findings. Here, we address this qu...

Background The mental health of medical students is a national and international problem increasing in both demand and acuity. Medical students face barriers to accessing mental health support that is clinically effective, timely and appropriate for their needs. This mixed methods study aimed to explore experiences of these barriers and the challen...

Psychological interventions, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Psychodynamic psychotherapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), are considered the treatment of choice for adults presenting with functional / dissociative seizures (FDS; also known as psychogenic non-epileptic seizures or non-epileptic attacks). Although a range of...

Background: Psychological interventions are the most recommended treatment for functional/dissociative seizures (FDS); however, there is ongoing uncertainty about their effectiveness on seizure outcomes. Methods: This systematic review and meta-analysis synthesises the available data. In February 2023, we completed a systematic search of four elec...

Background Well-designed evaluations of psychological interventions on psychiatric intensive care units (PICUs) are a rarity. Aims To evaluate the effectiveness of cognitive behaviour therapy for intrusive taboo thoughts with a patient diagnosed with bipolar affective disorder admitted to a PICU due to significant ongoing risk of harm to self. Me...

Background Severe domestic squalor occurs when a person lives in a dwelling that is significantly unclean, disorganised and unhygienic. The limited previous research has primarily focused on the characteristics of those who live in squalor and the associated risk factors. Robust and reliable studies of squalor prevalence have not been conducted. Th...

Background Higher education institutions face challenges in providing effective mental health services for diverse student needs. In the UK, discrepancies between healthcare and education service provision create barriers for students and require stronger alignment through partnerships. Objectives This study aimed to identify risks, barriers and e...

Background Severe domestic squalor occurs when a person lives in a dwelling that is significantly unclean, disorganised and unhygienic. The limited previous research has primarily focused on the characteristics of those who live in squalor and the associated risk factors. Robust and reliable studies of squalor prevalence have not been conducted. Th...

Background Despite the importance of assessing the quality with which low-intensity (LI) group psychoeducational interventions are delivered, no measure of treatment integrity (TI) has been developed. Aims To develop a psychometrically robust TI measure for LI psychoeducational group interventions. Method This study had two phases. Firstly, the g...

Background There is some initial evidence that attachment security priming may be useful for promoting engagement in therapy and improving clinical outcomes. Aims This study sought to assess whether outcomes for behavioural activation delivered in routine care could be enhanced via the addition of attachment security priming. Method This was a pr...

Background: Guided self-help (GSH) for anxiety is widely implemented in primary care services because of service efficiency gains, but there is also evidence of poor acceptability, low effectiveness and relapse. Aims: The aim was to compare preferences for, acceptability and efficacy of cognitive-behavioural guided self-help (CBT-GSH) versus cog...

Objective: Conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating the efficacy of individual humanistic-experiential therapies (HEPs) for depression. Method: Database searches (Scopus, Medline, and PsycINFO) identified RCTs comparing any HEP intervention with a treatment-as-usual (TAU) control or active a...

Psychological therapies are considered the treatment of choice for functional/dissociative seizures (FDSs). Although most previous studies have focused on seizure persistence or frequency, it has been argued that well‐being or health‐related quality of life outcomes may actually be more meaningful. This study contributes by summarizing and meta‐ana...

Objectives: The literature regarding the effectiveness of long-term psychological interventions delivered in tertiary care is scarce. This study sought to quantify and evaluate outcomes delivered in a UK tertiary care psychotherapy service against equivalent service benchmarks. Design: A retrospective analysis of outcomes on the Outcome Question...

Background: Occupational burnout is highly prevalent in the mental healthcare workforce and associated with poorer job satisfaction, performance and outcomes. Aims: To evaluate the effects of the Mind Management Skills for Life Programme on burnout and wellbeing. Methods: N=173 mental health nurses were recruited from the English National Health...

Due to the relevance of identity disturbance to personality disorder this study sought to complete a network analysis of a well validated measure of identity disturbance; the personality structure questionnaire (PSQ). A multi-site and cross-national methodology created an overall sample of N = 1549. The global network structure of the PSQ was analy...

Purpose: This review presents a comprehensive evaluation of the effectiveness of routinely delivered psychological therapies across inpatient, outpatient and University-based clinics. Methods: This was a pre-registered systematic-review of studies meeting pre-specified inclusion criteria (CRD42020175235). Eligible studies were searched in three dat...

Currently, no reports exist on the phenomenon of early response in humanistic-experiential therapies. This study investigated the prognostic value of early response on posttreatment outcomes in person-centered experiential therapy (PCET) for depression within the English Improving Access to Psychological Therapies program. The design of the study w...

Aim To estimate treatment refusal and treatment dropout rates for cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) and then benchmark these rates against other psychotherapies. Method PROSPERO registration CRD4202017081. Systematic searches found CAT treatment studies reporting treatment refusal and dropout rates. Studies were narratively and quantitatively synth...

Background An Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service in England has implemented cognitive analytic therapy guided self-help (CAT-GSH) alongside cognitive behavioural guided self-help (CBT-GSH) in order to support enhanced patient choice. This study sought to explore the acceptability to psychological wellbeing practitioners (PWP...

Objective: To provide a comprehensive assessment of the association between psychological treatment adherence/competence/integrity (ACI) and clinical outcomes. Method: The review protocol was preregistered (CRD42020193889). Studies that assessed ACI-outcome relationships for adult psychotherapy were searched across three databases (Scopus, PsycI...

Objectives: Evidence for the treatment of bipolar affective disorder with cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is limited, and so this study sought to intensively evaluate outcomes in a co-produced single-case experimental design (SCED). Design: An A1 /B/A2 /C with extended follow-up SCED with a female patient meeting diagnostic criteria for bipolar...

Background: Depression is a heterogeneous condition, with multiple possible symptom-profiles leading to the same diagnosis. Descriptive depression subtypes based on observation and theory have so far proven to have limited clinical utility. Aim: To identify depression subtypes and to examine their time-course and prognosis using data-driven meth...

Objectives. This review sought to evaluate the effectiveness of the ‘Stress Control’ (SC) large psychoeducational 6-session group programme developed to increase access to treatment for patients with anxiety and depression. Design. Systematic review and meta-analysis (Prospero registration:CRD42020173676). Methods. Pre–post and post-treatment follo...

Background: Effective targeting of services requires that we establish which undergraduates are at increased risk of mental health problems at university. We aimed to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence and risk factors for mental health problems in undergraduates. Methods: We searched MEDLINE, PsycInfo, EMBASE and the C...

Video abstract: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odRicwO-GsY Background: Common mental disorders can be effectively treated with psychotherapy, but some patients do not respond well and require timely identification to prevent treatment failure. We aimed to develop and validate a dynamic model to predict psychological treatment outcomes, and to com...

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Background: Managing the alliance is considered to be a core competency and central therapeutic change process during cognitive analytic therapy (CAT). This study examined latent trajectories of change in the alliance and their relationship to depression treatment outcomes. Design: Secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial. Methods: A sam...

Background There is a disconnect between the ability to swiftly develop e-therapies for the treatment of depression, anxiety, and stress, and the scrupulous evaluation of their clinical utility. This creates a risk that the e-therapies routinely provided within publicly funded psychological health care have evaded appropriate rigorous evaluation in...

Objectives Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) is a national‐level dissemination programme for provision of evidence‐based psychological treatments for anxiety and depression in the United Kingdom. This paper sought to review and meta‐analyse practice‐based evidence arising from the programme. Design A pre‐registered (CRD42018114796...

Objectives: This paper sought to conduct a meta-analysis of the effectiveness and durability of cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) and assess the acceptability of CAT in terms of dropout rates. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: PROSPERO registration: CRD42018086009. Searches identified CAT treatment outcome studies eligible t...

BACKGROUND There has been a lack of MMHealth innovation in technology supporting the delivery of integrative psychotherapies. This project evaluated an app that supports patients being treated with cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) to practice relational awareness. OBJECTIVE To assess the manner in which patients and therapists experienced using th...

Background There has been a lack of technological innovation regarding improving the delivery of integrative psychotherapies. This project sought to evaluate an app designed to replace previous paper-based methods supporting relational awareness and change during cognitive analytic therapy (CAT). Objective We aimed to assess patients’ and therapis...

Despite the vastly increased dissemination of the low-intensity (LI) version of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for the treatment of anxiety and depression, no valid and reliable indices of the LI-CBT clinical competencies currently exist. This research therefore sought to develop and evaluate two measures: the low-intensity assessment competency...

BACKGROUND The disconnect between the ability to swiftly development e-therapies for the treatment of anxiety and depression and the evaluation of their clinical efficacy, means that many e-therapies in routine use in the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom have skipped appropriate rigorous evaluation. OBJECTIVE To conduct a meta-a...

Objectives This study sought to employ the hourglass model to frame the methodological evolution of outcome studies concerning 5‐session cognitive analytic consultancy (CAC). Design Pre‐post mixed methods evaluation (study one) and mixed methods case series (study two). Methods In study one, three sites generated acceptability and pre‐post effect...

The evidence base for behavioral activation (BA) as a frontline treatment for depression is grounded in individual delivery. No valid previous meta-analytic reviews of BA delivered in groups have been conducted. This study therefore examined the efficacy and acceptability of group BA drawn from clinical trial evidence. Randomized controlled trials...

Background: The evidence base for behavioural activation (BA) is mainly grounded in the individual delivery method, with much less known about the impact of group delivery. Aims: To conduct a pilot study of behavioural activation in groups (BAG) for depression delivered in a routine service setting, in order to explore acceptability, effectivene...

The evidence base for treatment of hypersexuality disorder (HD) has few studies with appropriate methodological rigour. This study therefore conducted a single case experiment of cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) for HD using an A/B with extended follow-up design. Cruising, pornography usage, masturbation frequency and associated cognitions and emot...