Aim Although treatment guidelines for pharmacological therapy for schizophrenia and major depressive disorder have been issued by the Japanese Societies of Neuropsychopharmacology and Mood Disorders, these guidelines have not been well applied by psychiatrists throughout the nation. To address this issue, we developed the ‘Effectiveness of Guidelines for Dissemination and Education in Psychiatric Treatment (EGUIDE)’ integrated education programs for psychiatrists to disseminate the clinical guidelines. Additionally, we conducted a systematic efficacy evaluation of the programs. Methods Four hundred thirteen out of 461 psychiatrists attended two 1‐day educational programs based on the treatment guidelines for schizophrenia and major depressive disorder from October 2016 to March 2018. We measured the participants’ clinical knowledge of the treatment guidelines using self‐completed questionnaires administered before and after the program to assess the effectiveness of the programs for improving knowledge. We also examined the relation between the participants’ demographics and their clinical knowledge scores. Results The clinical knowledge scores for both guidelines were significantly improved after the program. There was no correlation between clinical knowledge and participant demographics for the program on schizophrenia; however, a weak positive correlation was found between clinical knowledge and the years of professional experience for the program on major depressive disorder. Conclusion Our results provide evidence that educational programs on the clinical practices recommended in guidelines for schizophrenia and major depressive disorder might effectively improve participants’ clinical knowledge of the guidelines. These data are encouraging to facilitate the standardization of clinical practices for psychiatric disorders.

BackgroundSchoolteachers are known to be faced with various stresses in their work. A simple, less onerous, and effective intervention technique that can enhance the stress management skills, particularly, cognitive flexibility, of schoolteachers is needed.ObjectiveThis study aimed to determine whether stress management training using a Web-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program is effective for enhancing the cognitive flexibility of schoolteachers and alleviating their subjective distress.MethodsThis study was conducted in a random controlled design covering public elementary schoolteachers. Teachers allocated to the intervention group received 120 min of group education and completed homework using a Web-based CBT program that lasted for 3 months. The items of outcome evaluation were cognitive flexibility and subjective distress, and the efficacy of intervention was evaluated at 3 months after intervention.ResultsA total of 240 participants were randomly allocated to the intervention group (120 individuals) and the control group (120 individuals). On the basis of the principle of intention to treat, the intervention group and the control group were compared regarding the amount of change from before intervention to after intervention, using a general linear model. Scores of cognitive flexibility and subjective distress were significantly more improved in the intervention group than in the control group.ConclusionsThe results of this study suggest that simple stress management training using a Web-based CBT program in elementary schoolteachers enhances cognitive flexibility and alleviates subjective distress.

The findings suggest that training caregivers improves their stress reaction and coping skills.

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Background A mass‐casualty incident occurred on July 26, 2016, at Tsukui Yamayuri‐en, which is a welfare facility for people with intellectual disabilities. Nineteen residents with intellectual disabilities were killed, and 26 other residents and staff members were injured. Kitasato University Hospital Emergency and Disaster Medical Center treated many patients in serious condition at the site and in the hospital. Aims The authors investigated the symptom severity and distributions of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among the emergency medical staff in charge. The subjects of this study were the staff members, mostly working at the Emergency and Disaster Medical Center, who treated the people injured in the incident. Methods We conducted a questionnaire survey using Impact of Event Scale‐Revised (IES‐R) on 104 staff members, and 79 responded. Results The IES‐R scores of nurses were significantly higher than those of doctors. There was no significant difference in the scores between male and female staff members, and there was no correlation between the score of each IES‐R subscale and age. Conclusion Results suggest that mental care should be provided to emergency medical staff, especially nurses who treat trauma patients involved in disasters and heinous crimes.