INSIA Newsletter

It is the end of the year, and by this December newsletter, the secretariat wishes you all a relaxing and joyful holiday with family and friends!

Across the world, the candles glow, a gentle warmth in winter’s snow.
May peace and joy in hearts unite, and guide us all with hope so bright.

Season’s Greetings from the INSIA Secretariat

December 2025

NIPH

Norwegian flag

NIPH recently completed an examination of “Risk and protective factors for positive upbringing conditions and the prevention of crime among children and adolescents” [Risiko- og beskyttelsesfaktorer for gode oppvekstsvilkår og forebygging av kriminalitet blant barn og unge]. They are now embarking on a larger and more systematic examination of this topic, aiming to conduct an umbrella review, which is expected to be completed in April 2026.

NIPH will shortly complete and publish three other reviews:

  • Methods for assessment of suitability in the recruitment of individuals to work with children and adolescents [Metoder for vurdering av skikkethet ved ansettelse av personer som skal jobbe med barn og unge]
  • Attitudes towards gender equality among young people in the Nordic countries [Holdninger til likestilling mellom menn og kvinner blant unge i Norden]
  • The meaning of climate change and climate-related events on social inequality and equality [Betydningen av klimaendringer og klimarelaterte hendelser på sosial ulikhet og likestilling]

SBU

Coercive measures (e.g. restraint and seclusion) remain common in child and adolescent psychiatric and residential care despite efforts to reduce their use. We conducted a mixed-methods systematic review of studies on interventions to reduce coercive measure use published between 1, Jan 2005, and 19, Feb 2025. Twenty-six studies (13 quantitative, 13 qualitative) with low to moderate risk of bias were included. Quantitative findings synthesised using Synthesis Without Meta-analysis (SWiM), linked interventions targeting organisational culture and staff practice with moderate to large reductions in coercive measures, whereas child-focused behavioural interventions showed more limited or uncertain effects.

Qualitative thematic synthesis generated four analytical themes highlighting the importance of relational care, collaboration, staff reflexivity, and organisational support. Integration through joint display indicated that organisational and staff-focused interventions most closely aligned with qualitative themes, while also tending to achieve the largest effect sizes. Further research should clarify active components and strategies for scalable implementation.

Report (in Swedish only): Interventions to Prevent and Reduce Coercive Measures in Psychiatric Care and Residential Care for Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Ethical Considerations [Interventioner för att förebygga och minska tvångsåtgärder inom psykiatrisk vård och institutionsvård av barn och unga: En systematisk översikt och etiska aspekter]

INESSS

Reports recently produced:

Vive

Rasmus Højbjerg Jacobsen has (together with Beatrice Schindler Rangvid), published one of the reports he presented at the INSIA meeting in Paris. The report is about “Economic calculation models for interventions within the welfare areas”, Link to the report: https://www.vive.dk/da/udgivelser/economic-calculation-models-for-interventions-within-the-welfare-areas-mxbdrbdz/.
The Summary is in Danish, but the report in English, open access and available to download on the website.

My colleagues have published a pre-print of a review of social psychiatric interventions in groups. Link to the pripring: https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/kpvam_v1.

It might be interesting for many of you in the INSIA network, but I’m not sure if you want to include publications that have not yet been peer-reviewed? The review is under review in Campbell Systematic Reviews.

June 2025

Norwegian flag

NIPH

News from NIPH

Lidal IB, Johansen TB, Nøkleby H, Bergsund HB, Hval G. What parents say about their own involvement in children’s digital activities in everyday life: a mixed method systematic review / Hva foreldre sier om sin egen involvering i barnas digitale aktiviteter i hverdagen: en flermetodisk systematisk oversikt. Rapport.

Meneses Echavez JF, Henriksen HB, Bjornes SS. Needs and characteristics of children and youth placed in child welfare institutions in Norway: Rapid review / Behov og kjennetegn hos barn og unge plassert i barnevernsinstitusjoner i Norge: hurtigoversikt. Forskningskartlegging.
Langøien LJ, Nøkleby H, Johansen TB, Bergsund HB, Lidal IB. Information and support services for children aged 9 to 12 years: Children’s experiences with and preferences for support services / Informasjons- og hjelpetjenester for barn 9-12 år: Barns erfaringer med og ønsker for hjelpetjenester. Rapport.

Langøien LJ, Berdal G, Refsdal TL, Berg RC. The school situation for children and youth placed in child welfare insti-tutions: A rapid review /Skolesituasjonen for barn og unge plassert i barnevernsinstitusjoner: Hurtigoversikt. Forskningskartlegging.

SBU

Psychological and psychosocial treatment effective for psychiatric and substance use comorbidity, findings from a recent systematic review by SBU

Psychological and psychosocial treatments can reduce both substance use and psychiatric symptoms in adults with co-occurring addiction and mental health disorders. The review highlights contingency management, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and integrated treatments (treatments addressing both substance use and co-occurring psychiatric conditions) as particularly effective approaches.
Evidence for pharmacological treatments, however, remains limited. The review found that naltrexone can help reduce alcohol consumption in individuals with dual diagnoses without worsening psychiatric symptoms. However, there is a notable lack of research into pharmacological treatments for patients with comorbid conditions overall.
The report calls for more research, especially into pharmacological interventions, and coordinated care and social support measures for individuals with comorbidity —including those with neuropsychiatric disorders, eating disorders, and personality disorders.
Despite gaps in the evidence, treatment should still be offered. When left untreated, dual diagnoses often lead to a negative cycle of worsening symptoms, poorer quality of life, and higher societal costs.
The review, reported according to PRISMA guidelines and registered in PROSPERO, included 120 studies and assessed evidence using the GRADE system.

Report (in Swedish only, summary in English):
Interventions for adults with co-occurring addictive and psychiatric disorders: A systematic review including health economic and ethical aspects /
Behandling och sociala stödinsatser vid samsjuklighet mellan beroende och andra psykiatriska tillstånd: En systematisk översikt av behandlingsinsatser, hälsoekonomi och etik

Health Technology Wales (HTW)

Health Technology Wales welcomes new Appraisal Panel Chair

Health Technology Wales is pleased to introduce the new Chair of its Appraisal Panel, Professor Keith Lloyd.


The role of the HTW Appraisal Panel is to consider the HTW appraisal evidence within the context of NHS and social care in Wales and to produce the HTW national guidance based on this evidence.
The panel also helps HTW to identify upcoming topics for appraisal, evaluates the uptake of HTW guidance and facilitates stakeholder engagement.
Keith Lloyd is a Professor of Psychiatry at Swansea University and Director of its Institute of Life Science with a long-standing interest in medtech and sportstech innovation, wellbeing and health.

He was Pro Vice Chancellor for medicine, health and life science at Swansea University and before that head of the Swansea University medical school. Prior to joining the university, he was head of what is now Health and Care Research Wales.
Keith has also worked with the James Lind Alliance on public and patient perspectives in research priority setting and with the Cochrane Collaboration.
Professor Lloyd continues to work clinically as a psychiatrist in Swansea.
Speaking of his new role as AP Chair, Professor Lloyd said:

“As Chair of the HTW Appraisal Panel I look forward to helping develop at pace national guidance on innovative health technologies with real world impact that work for Wales”

Susan Myles, HTW Director, added:
“We are delighted to welcome Professor Lloyd as the new Chair of the Health Technology Wales Appraisal Panel. He has invaluable experience both in clinical and academic settings and an excellent understanding of the health and care landscape in Wales.
“We look forward to seeing how he helps to shape the important work of our Appraisal Panel and in turn the impact he makes on the identification, appraisal and adoption of innovation health technologies across Wales.”

February 2025

SBU

At the end of 2024, a paper was published describing the transition of assessing health technologies to assessing social interventions at SBU in Sweden. In 2015, the Swedish HTA agency SBU was also tasked to assess interventions in a new field; the social one. Five years later, this paper describes and reflects on this journey and the actions taken.
Read the article: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-technology-assessment-in-health-care/article/transition-of-assessing-health-technologies-to-social-interventions-in-sweden/E50EB83100433599D138D0D3F9B78A8E)

In 2023, SBU published an evaluation of psychosocial interventions aimed at preventing gang-related crime among young people. This SBU report has now been published in the journal Research on Social Work Practice and is available open access for anyone interested in accessing our findings. Read the article: Psychosocial Interventions Preventing Gang-Related Crime Among Young People: A Systematic Review

Other news:

Sweden has decided on a national strategy in the field of mental health and suicide prevention, emphasizing the importance of cross-sectoral collaboration and highlighting early and preventive interventions as a clear priority. SBU therefore sees an opportunity to contribute with knowledge on how social interventions and social work can promote mental well-being and reduce suicide rates in society.

The Swedish Government has proposed a new social service law, where “science and proven experience” is suggested to constitute the basis for the work within the social services in Sweden. To support the social services adjustment towards a more knowledge-based social service, a project is taking place at SBU where a digital educational material approaching science, is put together. Previously, SBU has produced pedagogical material about understanding treatment effects within the health care services. This current project has the aim to highlight ways of thinking critically about intervention effects and adapt examples of scientific claims to the context of the social services in Sweden.

HAS

Latest publications:

Best practice guidelines and guides for health and social care professionals

In French only

In French but a synthesis in English is available

Improving health and social care for people experiencing homelessness and living with mental health disorders – 10 key messages – Synthesis guidelines

Other news

HAS is gearing up to understand/implement generative AI systems, identify the risks and gradually reap the benefits.

Upcoming publication

HAS 2025-2030 strategic plan

Health Technology Wales (HTW)

Health Technology Wales (HTW) is pleased to announce the publication of its 2023/24 Adoption Audit Report.

This year HTW audited 11 pieces of HTW guidance and three pieces of NICE Medical Technologies Evaluation (MTEP) guidance.

The audit achieved the best response rate to date and revealed high levels of awareness of HTW guidance. Meanwhile, nearly all audit responses received indicated that HTW and NICE MTEP guidance recommendations were clear.

There were partial responses to the audit from two of the seven health boards and full responses from four other health boards, NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee (NWJCC – formerly Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee), Welsh Ambulance Services University NHS Trust (WAST) and Velindre University NHS Trust.

Key findings from the adoption audit include the following:

  • Responses from organisations where the guidance was relevant indicate that awareness of the guidance is high (79%), clarity of guidance recommendations is very good (96%), and guidance is having an impact in the majority of cases (72%). These figures are consistent with, or an improvement on last year’s audit.
  • While the clarity of the guidance was reported as high, there were some instances where organisations did not fully understand the remit of HTW guidance. There were comments around the lack of information on where funding and extra resources would come from, and questions around implementation of the technology, which is not within the remit of HTW guidance.
  • Generally, HTW guidance that recommends routine adoption of a technology was adhered to. Though there were a few examples where organisations had not adhered to the recommendation or were unsure if they would.
  • For HTW guidance that “partially supports” routine adoption, organisations generally either did not feel the guidance was sufficient to change commissioning policy or clinical practice, or were unsure.
  • All three pieces of NICE guidance audited recommended the use of a technology. The impact on decision-making of the three pieces of guidance was variable, ranging from no impact to major impact.

Judith Paget, Director General for Health and Social Services and NHS Wales Chief Executive, said:

“HTW plays an important role in helping to ensure that the most effective and cost-effective health technologies are available to the people of Wales.  This report clearly demonstrates the significant impact HTW’s guidance is having within our healthcare sector. It is also really pleasing to hear that this audit achieved the highest response rate so far, which demonstrates the continuous improvements being made to the HTW adoption audit process.”

Susan Myles, Director of Health Technology Wales, said:

“Our latest adoption report shows just how much of an impact our guidance is having across Wales. We would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners for their continued support of our work and their valuable contributions to the adoption audit.”

Following the completion of the audit, HTW has concluded that it should continue to engage closely with local health boards and specialised trusts to maximise adoption audit returns and also consider how the process can be extended to other commissioners.

HTW will also review the adoption audit questions with a view to providing more detailed guidance notes and ensuring questions are as clear as possible. In future, adoption audit respondents should only have to answer appropriate questions depending on the relevance of the guidance to their organisation.

To read the HTW 2023/24 Adoption Audit Report in full click here.

Invitation to INSIA Members to join the membership meeting committee

The INSIA Membership Meeting will take place in Paris, France, on the 14-15th of October 2025 and the planning of the Membership Meeting is about to start.

If you are interested in joining the membership meeting committee, please sign up by sending an e-mail to the INSIA Secretariat at insia@sbu.se by February 17th. The committee is led by Rigmor Berg (Board Chair) and Board Director Angélique Khaled, but 2-3 members are needed.

We also want your input regarding the theme for the Membership Meeting. Please send your suggestions to the Secretariat at insia@sbu.se by February 17th.