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Each month Health Issues Centre will bring you articles, opinions and papers on the latest thinking in consumer and community participation in health care. We hope that you find these topics interesting

Visual feedback of individuals' medical imaging results for changing health behaviour.
Hollands GJ, Hankins M, Marteau TM.
This review investigated whether showing (and explaining) to people their medical scan images motivates them to change their behaviour to reduce any health risks identified. This is important because getting people to change their health behaviours is generally very difficult. ...Nine trials involving 1371 participants were included in the review. In general, no strong evidence was found to support the effectiveness of this approach, but it was shown to be effective in some contexts. In smoking cessation interventions the effect of showing and explaining artery scanning images (to assess the risk of cardiovascular disease) was found to be more effective than not communicating images. In other outcomes, the effects were mixed. There was no evidence of significant harmful effects of this approach, although this was not well reported.

A main limitation of the review is the small number of studies in this area and the great differences between them in terms of the precise nature of the interventions and the populations being studied. This makes drawing broad conclusions difficult.
Full text of this review on The Cochrane Library

Shared decision making interventions for people with mental health conditions.
Duncan E, Best C, Hagen S.
Mental health conditions are common and can have serious consequences for both affected individuals and society. Current clinical guidance encourages mental healthcare practitioners to involve patients in treatment decisions. This is advocated on the basis that people have a right to self-determination and also in the expectation that it will increase treatment adherence. Thorough searches were conducted for randomised controlled trials (RCTs), quasi-randomised controlled trials (q-RCTs), controlled before-and-after studies (CBAs); and interrupted time series (ITS) studies of interventions to increase shared decision making in people with mental health conditions. Two studies met the inclusion criteria. One of the studies indicated that the intervention increased patient satisfaction in the short term. One study indicated that doctor facilitation of consumer involvement in decision making was increased by the intervention, but no effects were found on the clinical or health service outcomes in either study. Neither study reported that shared decision making for people with mental health conditions is harmful. However, no firm conclusions can be drawn from these two studies on any of the outcomes measured and further research is needed.
Full text of this review on The Cochrane Library