Staff perceptions of the quality of care delivered in a New Zealand mental health and addiction service: Findings from a qualitative study.

In New Zealand, people receiving care from specialist mental health and addiction services experience poorer health outcomes compared to the general population. Maori (Indigenous) specialist mental health and addiction service users experience disproportionate inequities. This study aims to: (1) Describe and understand mental health staff perspectives on the quality of care delivered to specialist mental health and addiction service users in their service - including specifically for Maori; and (2) Identify areas staff report as opportunities for quality improvement. In 2020, Southern District Health Board (now Te Whatu Ora - Southern) mental health staff were invited to participate in a cross-sectional study assessing their perceptions of a range of service aspects. This paper presents quantitative and qualitative analyses about quality of care. Among the 319 staff who completed the questionnaire; 272 provided quality-of-care responses. Among these, 78% reported the quality of care delivered to service users as 'good' or 'excellent'; only 60% reported this for Maori service users. Participants identified individual, service and broader system level factors influencing the quality of care delivered to service users, including factors specific for Maori. This study has identified, for what appears to be the first time, empirical and concerning differences in staff ratings of the quality of care delivered to Maori and SMHAS users overall. Findings highlight the need for institutional and managerial prioritization of hauora Maori, and incorporating tikanga Maori and Te Tiriti into practice.

A systematic scoping review of interventions to integrate physical and mental healthcare for people with serious mental illness and substance use disorders.

Integrated care approaches have been recommended to remove barriers to healthcare and improve the physical health outcomes of people living with serious mental illness (SMI) and/or substance use disorders (SUDs). The aim of this systematic scoping review was to describe empirical investigations of interventions designed to integrate physical, mental, and addiction healthcare for this population. An iterative and systematic search of five electronic databases (Medline (Ovid), PsycINFO, CINAHL, Embase (Ovid) and Scopus) was conducted to identify peer-reviewed articles published between January 2000 and April 2019. Two reviewers independently screened publications in two successive stages of title and abstract screening, followed by full-text screening of eligible publications. Data from each included publication were extracted independently by two reviewers using a standardised spreadsheet. A total of 28 eligible publications were identified, representing 25 unique studies. Over half of the included studies investigated the use of case managers to provide self-management skills or to coordinate mental and physical healthcare (n = 14). Other interventions examined the co-location of services (n = 9) and the implementation of screening and referral pathways to specialist treatment (n = 2). Less than half of the included studies described a framework, theory or model that was underpinning the intervention tested. While some aspects of integrated care have been identified and addressed by interventions, other key dimensions have not been considered, such as shared decision-making. Identification of a comprehensive model of integrated care is recommended to inform the development and evaluation of future interventions for people with SMI/SUDs.