Impact of COVID-19-Related Social Distancing on Delivery of Intensive Case Management.

ABSTRACT: Social distancing due to COVID-19 may adversely impact treatment of adults with serious mental illness, especially those receiving intensive forms of community-based care, in part through weakening of the therapeutic alliance. Veterans and staff at a Veterans Affair (VA) medical center were surveyed 3 months after social distancing disrupted usual service delivery in intensive community-based treatment programs. Veterans (n = 105) and staff (n = 112) gave similar multi-item ratings of service delivery after social distancing, which involved far less face-to-face contact and more telephone contact than usual and rated their therapeutic alliances and clinical status similarly as "not as good" on average than before social distancing. Self-reported decline in therapeutic alliance was associated with parallel decline in clinical status indicators. Both veterans and staff indicated clear preference for return to face-to-face service delivery after the pandemic with some telehealth included.

To improve the communication between a community mental health team and its service users, their families and carers.

This article describes the application of quality improvement (QI) to solve a long-standing, ongoing problem where service users or their carers felt they were not given enough information regarding diagnosis and medication during clinic assessments in a community mental health setting. Service users and carers had shared feedback that some of the information documented on clinic letters was not accurate and the service users were not given the opportunity to discuss these letters with the clinician. The aim of this QI project was to improve the communication between the community mental health team (CMHT) and service users and their carers. Wardown CMHT volunteered to take on this project. The stakeholders involved were the team manager and deputy manager, the team consultant, the team specialist registrar, team administrative manager, two carers and one service user. The project had access to QI learning and support through East London NHS Foundation Trust's QI programme. The team organised weekly meetings to brainstorm ideas, plan tests of change to review progress and to agree on the next course of action. The outcome was an increase in service user satisfaction from 59.9% to 78% over a period of 6 months, and a reduction in complaints to zero.

Implementing a transdiagnostic sleep and circadian intervention in a community mental health setting: A qualitative process evaluation with community stakeholders.

The implementation of evidence-based psychological treatments (EBPTs) may be particularly challenging to accomplish in community mental health settings for individuals with severe mental illness (SMI). Transdiagnostic treatments, or treatments that target a mechanism that underpins multiple mental health problems, may be particularly well-suited to community mental health settings. This study examines community stakeholder perspectives (N = 22) of the Transdiagnostic Sleep and Circadian Intervention (TranS-C) implemented in a community mental health setting in the context of a randomized controlled trial of TranS-C for SMI. The present study aimed to identify barriers and facilitators to the implementation of TranS-C for SMI in a community mental health setting using (1) a deductive theory-based process based on the Framework for Dissemination in Health Services Intervention Research and (2) an inductive thematic analysis process. All deductive themes were identified as both barriers and facilitators to the implementation of EBPTs and TranS-C in this community mental health setting. Seven additional themes were identified through the inductive thematic analysis. A discussion of how the findings are related to prior research, other EBPT implementation, and future TranS-C implementation are included.

Psychosocial and coping responses toward 2019 coronavirus diseases (COVID-19): a cross-sectional study within the Chinese general population.

BACKGROUND: The 2019 coronavirus diseases (COVID-19) led out the mental health crisis. AIM: To determine the psychological status and post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSD) among general population (except confirmed and suspected cases, and close contacts) and their association with the coping strategy types during the COVID-19 outbreak. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. METHODS: Participants were recruited from the community through snowball sampling with anonymous online questionnaires, using 28-item General Health Questionnaire, 22-item Impact of Events Scale-Revised and 28-item Brief Coping Inventory to measure their psychiatric disorders, PTSD level and coping strategies. RESULTS: Of the total 1109 participants, 42.65% and 67.09% self-reported psychiatric disorders and high PTSD level, respectively. Age, occupation and education level were significantly association with psychological status. The status of psychiatric disorders was also significantly related to high PTSD level. Using both emotion and problem coping was better for psychiatric status [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 0.72, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.54-0.98], and problem-focused coping was significantly associated with high PTSD level (aOR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.25-3.51). CONCLUSION: Negative psychological outcomes were common among the general people during the COVID-19 outbreak, and the findings may provide references for intervention guidelines of mental health for the community population.

Patient-reported well-being: psychometric properties of the world health organization well-being index in specialised community mental health settings.

The Five-item World Health Organization Well-being Index (WHO-5) is an increasingly used measure of generic well-being, but there is no evidence to support whether outpatients consider the questionnaire valuable. As the WHO-5 has not yet been psychometrically evaluated in specialised community mental health settings, an evaluation of its validity seems warranted. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine the psychometric properties of the WHO-5 in this type of setting. Data was collected from an outpatient center (N = 191 adults). Results indicate that the questionnaire was feasible to administer (n = 57 patients), it reported low mean Burden-scores and high Positive-Value scores, and had excellent internal consistency. No evidence of floor or ceiling effects was found. Results supported the unidimensional structure of the questionnaire. Significant differences were found concerning patients' diagnoses, with patients with schizophrenia diagnoses reporting higher scores and patients with depression and personality disorders reporting lower ones. When comparing the WHO-5 total score and patients' attitudes toward medication, negative correlations were observed with psychological reactance, as well as positive aspects of psychiatric medication. The present study demonstrates that the WHO-5 is feasible to administer and has robust psychometric properties in specialised community mental health centres.

Planning for child and adolescent mental health interventions in a rural district of South Africa: a situational analysis.

Objective: The aim of this study was to conduct a situational analysis as part of formative work to inform the development of community-based mental health services for children and adolescents at a district level. The purpose of the situational analysis was to determine the current state of child and adolescent mental health (CAMH), the available resources for CAMH, the range of services provided, and the existing pathways to CAMH care in a low-resource district with a view to developing a district mental health plan to improve access to CAMH services. Methods: Data for this situational analysis was collected from a rural district in the KwaZulu-Natal province using mixed methods. The qualitative component explored various stakeholders' (n = 26) perspectives using semi-structured interviews. The quantitative data for the study was collected using an adaptation of the situation analysis tool developed by the PRIME consortium. Results: The findings revealed the need to strengthen all the basic building blocks of the health system due to the weaknesses identified in the current CAMH care system in the district. The result of the situational analysis revealed that the provision of CAMH services in the district is sparse, uncoordinated, and not prioritised. Discussion: The findings of the study highlighted a severe shortage of specialised CAMH services in the district, poor integration of CAMH services into primary health care, and at the community platform there are deficits in the integrated school health programme. Further, the lack of a coordinated intersectoral collaborative system and well-defined referral pathways were revealed. Conclusion: The study highlights various challenges facing CAMH services at the Amajuba district. While these are not new, the study contributes to our understanding of the district level factors that may hinder the development of a district CAMH plan.

Personal-recovery-oriented community mental healthcare: qualitative evaluation of a developmental project.

OBJECTIVES: Mental healthcare is commonly aimed at reducing symptoms in individual service users. When only symptomatic recovery is addressed, not all service users experience sufficient recovery, and when care is aimed only at individuals (instead of the neighbourhood), not all people in need of mental healthcare are reached. This study evaluated a project that aimed to improve mental healthcare in a neighbourhood, by improving healthcare providers' outreach to the residents living in the neighbourhood, by improving collaboration among healthcare providers and focussing on the residents' personal recovery. This project was carried out by several public health services. It aimed to change the goal of mental healthcare provided in the neighbourhood from symptom reduction to personal recovery. DESIGN: The study included qualitative focus groups and inductive content analysis. SETTING: Primary and secondary mental healthcare that healthcare workers from different healthcare services provided. PARTICIPANTS: The evaluation was conducted through three focus group interviews with services users, their friends and relatives, neighbourhood residents, neighbourhood representatives and the healthcare services that were involved (n = 24). RESULTS: Evaluation indicated that the most valued part of the project was the utilisation of peer workers at the initiation of mental healthcare. Improved communication among healthcare providers that the project fostered was also highly regarded. The aim of the project to align it with existing initiatives in the neighbourhood was also considered important, although it was difficult to achieve. CONCLUSIONS: The project did not find a panacea for recovery-oriented community mental healthcare. A variety of its components did, however, contribute to the mental health of the community residents.

Primary care mental health: nurses' activities in the psychosocial care network.

OBJECTIVE: to describe and analyze the role of expert nurses in mental health in the Family Health Strategy. METHOD: a qualitative study, with 20 Basic Health Units nurses of Teresina, Piauí. The information was collected through semi-structured interviews from March to May 2017 and analyzed using the content analysis method. RESULTS: it was found that the conceptions of the mental health disease process were based on the biological model, there was little communication between mental health and basic network, nurses did not feel qualified to work mental health and there were few mental health actions in Primary Care. Final considerations: it becomes urgent to implement public policies that articulate mental health and Primary Care, raising awareness and continuing education for nurses.

Development and psychometric properties of a new brief scale for subjective personal agency (SPA-5) in people with schizophrenia.

AIMS: Personal agency is a variable which potentially facilitates personal recovery in people with serious mental illness. This study aimed to develop a new brief measure for subjective personal agency that can be completed by people with serious mental illness. METHODS: Two focus group interviews were first conducted with 11 people with schizophrenia to understand the fundamental components of subjective personal agency for people with serious mental illness living in the community. One group comprised six people with schizophrenia living in the community, while the other consisted of five people with schizophrenia working as peer-support workers. We then developed scale items through collaboration with people with schizophrenia and qualitative analysis (stage 1). A cross-sectional survey was then conducted to test the psychometric properties of the new scale among service users with schizophrenia in 18 assertive community treatment teams (stage 2). Factor validity was tested via exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). We evaluated convergent validity with the Boston University Empowerment Scale (BUES), divergent validity with the global assessment of functioning (GAF), internal consistency, and test-retest reliability. RESULTS: Seven items were included in the scale at stage 1. In stage 2, 195 participants completed this scale. EFA revealed a one-factor model with five items. CFA indicated good model fit (χ2 statistics [CMIN] = 8.445, df = 5 (CMIN/df = 1.689), p = 0.133, comparative fit index = 0.974, Tucker-Lewis fit index = 0.949, root mean square error of approximation = 0.077 and standardised root mean squared residual = 0.042). The new scale was significantly correlated with total BUES score (r = 0.526, p < 0.001), but not with GAF score. Cronbach's α for internal consistency was 0.79, and intra-class correlation coefficient for test-retest reliability was 0.70. CONCLUSION: We developed a new, five-item Subjective Personal Agency scale (SPA-5) that can be completed by people with serious mental illness. Further studies are needed to confirm the results outside Japan.

The Vital Role of a Full Continuum of Psychiatric Care Beyond Beds.

The authors make the case for expanding the national discussion of inpatient psychiatric beds to recognize and incorporate other vital components of the continuum of care in order to improve outcomes for individuals with serious mental illness. They review the varied terminology applied to psychiatric beds and describe how the location of these beds has changed from primarily state hospitals to the criminal justice system, emergency departments, inpatient units, and the community. The authors propose 10 recommendations related to beds or to contextual issues regarding them. The recommendations address issues of mental illness terminology, criminal and juvenile justice diversion, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, mental health technology, and the mental health workforce, among others. Each recommendation is based on findings from publicly available data and clinical observation and is intended to reduce the human and economic costs associated with severe mental illness by promoting a robust, interconnected, and evidence-based system of care that goes beyond beds.

Three Decades and Counting: HIV Service Provision in Outpatient Mental Health Settings.

OBJECTIVE: People with serious mental illness in the United States have higher human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection rates than the general U.S. population. This study aimed to assess delivery of HIV services in New York State's outpatient mental health programs. Greater access would enhance efforts to improve HIV prevention and care outcomes. METHODS: The authors surveyed directors of licensed outpatient mental health care programs statewide to investigate their HIV service delivery. Data were compared with surveys conducted in 1997 and 2004 in order to examine differences in services between geographic regions and time periods. RESULTS: Outpatient mental health programs have improved in the volume and range of HIV services offered, but their provision of preexposure prophylaxis, condoms, HIV testing, and HIV antiretroviral treatment monitoring has lagged. CONCLUSIONS: New York's initiative to end the HIV epidemic is not optimized to reach people with serious mental illness in settings designed for their care.

Implementing a Digital Tool to Support Shared Care Planning in Community-Based Mental Health Services: Qualitative Evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Mental health services aim to provide recovery-focused care and facilitate coproduced care planning. In practice, mental health providers can find supporting individualized coproduced care with service users difficult while balancing administrative and performance demands. To help meet this aim and using principles of coproduction, an innovative mobile digital care pathway tool (CPT) was developed to be used on a tablet computer and piloted in the West of England. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine mental health care providers' views of and experiences with the CPT during the pilot implementation phase and identify factors influencing its implementation. METHODS: A total of 20 in-depth telephone interviews were conducted with providers participating in the pilot and managers in the host organization. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, anonymized, and thematically analyzed guided by the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. RESULTS: The tool was thought to facilitate coproduced recovery-focused care planning, a policy and organizational as well as professional priority. Internet connectivity issues, system interoperability, and access to service users' health records affected use of the tool during mobile working. The organization's resources, such as information technology (IT) infrastructure and staff time and IT culture, influenced implementation. Participants' levels of use of the tool were dependent on knowledge of the tool and self-efficacy; perceived service-user needs and characteristics; and perceptions of impact on the therapeutic relationship. Training and preparation time influenced participants' confidence in using the tool. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the importance of congruence between staff, organization, and external policy priorities and digital technologies in aiding intervention engagement, and the need for ongoing training and support of those intended to use the technology during and after the end of implementation interventions.

Improving the process of zoning in a community mental health team.

INTRODUCTION: A zoning system is used to ensure that service users receive appropriate levels of support while they are using community mental health team (CMHT) services. Patients are split into red, amber and green zones and are discussed in a daily morning meeting to ensure management plans are in place. We identified that the meeting was an area for improvement as initial feedback indicated that the meeting was repetitive, newcomers to the team found that they did not understand why patients were in different zones and discussions were not being documented. Our three aims for the project were to improve staff-rated satisfaction by 25%, to improve weekly documentation of discussions to 100% and to improve the quality of information handed over by 25% over 4 months. METHODS: We used the Model for Improvement and "plan, do, study, act" (PDSA) cycles to test change ideas such as having someone chair the meeting, use of a 'situation, background, assessment, recommendation, decision' (SBARD) format to handover, introduction of a blue zone for inpatients and documentation in a specific part of the electronic notes at a specific time. RESULTS: We did not find our PDSA cycles led to a consistent change in satisfaction, quality and efficiency. We found an improvement of SBARD use up to 100% although this was not always consistent and an improvement in documentation to 100% for 3 weeks however this was not sustained. CONCLUSION: On examining barriers to change, we found the key to sustaining improvement is in ensuring multidisciplinary team member involvement at all stages of the Quality Improvement project.

Validity, reliability, acceptability, and utility of the Social Inclusion Questionnaire User Experience (SInQUE): a clinical tool to facilitate social inclusion amongst people with severe mental health problems.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with severe mental health problems are at risk of social exclusion, which may complicate their recovery. Mental health and social care staff have, until now, had no valid or reliable way of assessing their clients' social inclusion. The Social Inclusion Questionnaire User Experience (SInQUE) was developed to address this. It assesses five domains: social integration; productivity; consumption; access to services; and political engagement, in the year prior to first psychiatric admission (T1) and the year prior to interview (T2) from which a total score at each time point can be calculated. AIMS: To establish the validity, reliability, and acceptability of the SInQUE in individuals with a broad range of psychiatric diagnoses receiving care from community mental health services and its utility for mental health staff. METHOD: Participants were 192 mental health service users with psychosis, personality disorder, or common mental disorder (e.g., depression, anxiety) who completed the SInQUE alongside other validated outcome measures. Test-retest reliability was assessed in a sub-sample of 30 participants and inter-rater reliability was assessed in 11 participants. SInQUE ratings of 28 participants were compared with those of a sibling with no experience of mental illness to account for shared socio-cultural factors. Acceptability and utility of the tool were assessed using completion rates and focus groups with staff. RESULTS: The SInQUE demonstrated acceptable convergent validity. The total score and the Social Integration domain score were strongly correlated with quality of life, both in the full sample and in the three diagnostic groups. Discriminant validity and test-retest reliability were established across all domains, although the test-retest reliability on scores for the Service Access and Political Engagement domains prior to first admission to hospital (T1) was lower than other domains. Inter-rater reliability was excellent for all domains at T1 and T2. CONCLUSIONS: The component of the SInQUE that assesses current social inclusion has good psychometric properties and can be recommended for use by mental health staff.

How hospital practitioners can support sofa surfing adolescents to access community mental health services: An English perspective.

Informal homelessness or, as Centrepoint describe, 'the hidden homeless' includes young people who may sleep on their friends' or extended family's couches or floor. They estimate that 103,000 people aged 16-24 in the United Kingdom presented to their Local Authority in 2017-2018 as being or at risk of being homeless. A proportion of young people who experience homelessness rely on their own resources rather than approaching their Local Authority for support. There are a number of barriers that make it harder for any homeless person to access services to enhance their emotional well-being. If a young homeless person presents at a hospital, there is an opportunity for them to be directed to the appropriate support required. This is even more critical when young people have an identified mental health need. The authors will outline ways in which hospital practitioners can support adolescents who are sofa surfing and who have an identified mental health need, to receive community-based support when planning for discharge from hospital.

Addressing Severe Mental Illness Rehabilitation in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru.

Many Latin American countries face the challenge of caring for a growing number of people with severe mental illnesses while promoting deinstitutionalization and community-based care. This article presents an overview of current policies that aim to reform the mental health care system and advance the employment of people with disabilities in Colombia, Costa Rica, and Peru. The authors conducted a thematic analysis by using public records and semistructured interviews with stakeholders. The authors found evidence of supported employment programs for vulnerable populations, including people with disabilities, but found that the programs did not include people with severe mental illnesses. Five relevant themes were found to hamper progress in psychiatric vocational rehabilitation services: rigid labor markets, insufficient advocacy, public subsidies that create conflicting incentives, lack of deinstitutionalized models, and lack of reimbursement for evidence-based psychiatric rehabilitation interventions. Policy reforms in these countries have promoted the use of medical interventions to treat people with severe mental illnesses but not the use of evidence-based rehabilitation programs to facilitate community integration and functional recovery. Because these countries have other supported employment programs for people with nonpsychiatric disabilities, they are well positioned to pilot individual placement and support to accelerate full community integration among individuals with severe mental illnesses.