This chapter elaborates on the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders simultaneously in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) using the Unified Protocol (UP). Persons with CVDs alongside depression or anxiety have a heightened risk for death and disability, poor quality of life, and significantly higher costs for medical care. The UP provides a coherent conceptual and pragmatic approach to treating emotional disorders that are highly prevalent in CVD populations. Anxiety disorders remain largely neglected by randomized control trials due to procedural challenges in applying traditional cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) exposure therapies to CVD patients. Thus, the UP delivers immense benefits and a novel approach to patients with CVDs and comorbid emotional disorders.

The health status of young offenders is often poorer than similar aged non-offenders. Addressing young offender needs is a key priority for their rehabilitation and reintegration into the community. The objectives were to identify programs and interventions that assist detained youth through focussed discharge planning by a systematic review of the literature. In addition, this review examined the identified health needs of young offenders in secure care. Our systematic review searched electronic databases using the keyword terms youth, secure care, health assessment and primary health care. Keyword browser terms were also entered as search strings, and only literature from 1997 onwards was retained. Twenty-two pieces of published literature were retained, and these documented the needs and service utilisation of young offenders. Mental health problems and trauma exposure were commonly identified in the literature, as was general physical health deficits and social and familial problems. Retrieved articles also made recommendations for health assessments and discharge planning, and some provided discharge planning models. Young offenders have diverse needs that can be ascertained from quality assessment measures. Effective discharge planning is important to attend to ongoing health issues and aid rehabilitation and reintegration into the community. By administering a comprehensive multidimensional screening measure upon admission to secure care, individualised care plans can be formulated with discharge planning measures. Recommendations for further study include the development and implementation of a needs assessment tool in youth secure-care facilities that complements the existing assessments and helps reintegrate young offenders to primary health care and community services.

Background: Natural hazards are increasing in frequency and intensity due to climate change. Many of these natural disasters cannot be prevented; what may be reduced is the extent of the risk and negative impact on people and property. Research indicates that the 2019-2020 bushfires in Australia (also known as the “Black Summer Bushfires”) resulted in significant psychological distress among Australians both directly and indirectly exposed to the fires. Previous intervention research suggests that communities impacted by natural hazards (eg, earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods) can benefit from interventions that integrate mental health and social support components within disaster preparedness frameworks. Research suggests that disaster-affected communities often prefer the support of community leaders, local services, and preexisting relationships over external supports, highlighting that community-based interventions, where knowledge stays within the local community, are highly beneficial. The Community-Based Disaster Mental Health Intervention (CBDMHI) is an evidence-based approach that aims to increase disaster preparedness, resilience, social cohesion, and social support (disaster-related help-seeking), and decrease mental health symptoms, such as depression and anxiety.

Objective: This research aims to gain insight into rural Australian’s recovery needs post natural hazards, and to enhance community resilience in advance of future fires. Specifically, this research aims to adapt the CBDMHI for the rural Australian context and for bushfires and second, to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the adapted CBDMHI in a rural Australian community.

Methods: Phase 1 consists of qualitative interviews (individual or dyads) with members of the target bushfire-affected rural community. Analysis of these data will include identifying themes related to disaster preparedness, social cohesion, and mental health, which will inform the adaptation. An initial consultation phase is a key component of the adaptation process and, therefore, phase 2 will involve additional discussion with key stakeholders and members of the community to further guide adaptation of the CBDMHI to specific community needs, building on phase 1 inputs. Phase 3 includes identifying and training local community leaders in the adapted intervention. Following this, leaders will co-deliver the intervention. The acceptability and feasibility of the adapted CBDMHI within the community will be evaluated by questionnaires and semistructured interviews. Effectiveness will be evaluated by quantifying psychological distress, resilience, community cohesion, psychological preparedness, and help-seeking intentions.

Results: This study has received institutional review board approval and commenced phase 1 recruitment in October 2022.

Conclusions: The study will identify if the adapted CBDMHI is viable and acceptable within a village in the Northern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. These findings will inform future scale-up in the broader rural Australian context. If this intervention is well received, the CBDMHI may be valuable for future disaster recovery and preparedness efforts in rural Australia. These findings may inform future scale-up in the broader rural Australian context.

The a priori registration of systematic reviews provides a way to describe the methods for a meta-analysis before Review Paper selection commences. Chiu and coworkers report a systematic review of blood pressure variability, deviating from the protocol registered on PROSPERO (CRD42020190429).

Purpose: No previous study has reported upon comorbid depression and anxiety disorders and their treatment in heart failure (HF), which the current study has sought to document. Materials and methods: Total 29 HF patients under psychiatric management underwent primary depression cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT; n = 15) or primary generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) CBT (n = 14), and participated in a community exercise program and standard physician care. Repeated measures analysis of variance assessed Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) and GAD-7 symptom change pre- and post-CBT treatment, and assessed the interaction effects of treatment type, exercise, anti-depressant and anxiolytic. Results: There was a significant time and treatment interaction effect that favored the primary GAD CBT group for reduction in PHQ symptoms (F(1, 24) = 4.52, p = 0.04). Analysis of PHQ-somatic symptoms also showed a significant main effect for participation in the exercise program (F(1, 24) = 4.21, p = 0.05) and a significant time and anxiolytic interaction (F(1, 24) = 3.98, p = 0.05). The average number of cardiac hospital readmissions favored the primary GAD CBT group (p = 0.05). Conclusion: The findings support the use of multifaceted interventions in the rehabilitation of HF patients with comorbid psychiatric needs.