Strategic Activity Planning for Emotionally Disturbed Children and Adolescents

Strategically planned activity components for residential treatment program directly reduced the amount of negative acting out which must be managed in the cottage environment. Sequentially guided creative tasks can provide a supportive central core for treatment goal implementation. Organized activities serve to measure progress towards individual and peer relationship objectives. Specific step-by-step strategies and projects are recommended for use within the therapeutic milieu for emotionally disturbed children and adolescents.

Immunotherapy: a potential approach to targeting cancer stem cells

: Tumor recurrence and drug resistance are two of the key factors affecting the prognosis of cancer patients. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a group of cells with infinite proliferation potential which are not sensitive to traditional therapies including radio- and chemotherapy. These CSCs are considered to be central to tumor recurrence and the development of drug resistance. In addition, CSCs are important targets in cancer immunotherapy because of their expression of novel tumor-associated antigens, which result from mutations in cancer cells over the course of treatment. Emerging immunotherapies, including cancer vaccines, checkpoint blockade therapies, and transferred immune cell therapies, have all been shown to be more effective when they selectively target CSCs. Such therapies may also provide novel additions to the current therapeutic milieu and may offer new therapeutic combinations for treatment. This review summarizes the relationships between various immunotherapies and CSCs and provides novel insights into potential therapeutic applications for these approaches in the future.

Inpatient Milieu Therapy: Considerations for Adolescent and Transitional Age Youth

Background and Goals: The role of milieu therapy on inpatient treatment has become more prominent due to the changing landscape of hospital care, with shorter length of stay, higher patient acuity, and rapid turnover. The modern inpatient unit promotes less individual psychotherapy with the psychiatrist or therapist, and more milieu and group based treatment that emphasizes acute stabilization. Methods: The authors share some of the core domains that provide the basic framework for milieu treatment within an acute care setting when working with adolescents and transitional age youth (TAY), with the aim to share clinical considerations for milieu therapy and offer practical ideas for implementation in clinical practice. Discussion: The therapeutic milieu and collaboration of an interdisciplinary team has a significant impact on hospital treatment. Considerations for milieu therapy implementation in an inpatient unit include developmentally informed concepts related to milieu treatment of adolescents and TAY patients in a hospital setting.

Adaptive capacities for safe clinical practice for patients hospitalised during a suicidal crisis: A qualitative study

Background. Safe clinical practice for patients during a suicidal crisis is situated within a complex, non-linear and uncertain context. It involves a complex set of practices in which adaptation is perceived as a source of safety. This study aims to develop a deeper understanding of safe clinical practice and the capacity to adapt to challenges and changes in clinical care for patients hospitalised in mental health wards during a suicidal crisis. Methods. This study applied a qualitative design based on focus group and individual interviews. Twenty-five health care professionals (HCPs) participated in the focus groups, and 18 HCPs were individually interviewed. The study was conducted at open and locked wards in a university hospital in Norway that provides specialised mental health services for adults.Findings. Adaptive capacities for clinical practice were described in relation to three themes. 1) HCPs described using expertise to make sense of suicidal behaviour to support complex decision-making. Their strategies relied on setting the checklist aside to prioritise trust and making judgements beyond spoken words. They improved their understanding by seeking others’ perspectives through a collaborative sense-making process involving the health care team and the patient. 2) HCPs reported individualising the therapeutic milieu to address the diversity of patients with suicidal behaviour. Safe clinical practice was provided by creating individual clinical pathways, making trade-offs between under- and over-protection and adjusting observations 3) It was necessary for HCPs manage uncertainty to provide safe clinical practice. They did so as a team by developing mutual collegial trust, support and shared understanding. Conclusion. HCPs’ adaptive capacities are vital to the complex set of practices involved in safe clinical practice for patients hospitalised during a suicidal crisis. By using expertise, individualising the therapeutic milieu, and managing uncertainty, HCPs individually and collectively develop their capacity to adapt to challenges and changes in clinical care. Safe clinical practice cannot easily be ensured by following standards; it depends on HCP adaptations. Ward systems ensuring collegial trust and support are needed, as are arenas supporting shared understanding and collaborative sense-making. Keywords: Adaptation, sense-making, situational awareness, shared understanding, trade-offs, mental health, suicide, uncertainty