Community mental health team management in severe mental illness: A systematic review

Abstract

Community mental health team management is superior to standard care in promoting greater acceptance of treatment, and may also reduce hospital admission and avoid deaths by suicide. This model of care is effective and deserves encouragement.

Investigation of the Communication Network Among Mental Health Services: The Case of a Community Mental Health Care Center in Attica

“…This result points out the core role they play in the process of decision making in health care which is in line with the results of other studies especially in relation with the care of cancer patients in hospital settings [12,13]. Moreover, in almost one fifth of the recipients the recommendation was given from other health care professionals highlighting the interdisciplinary dimension in the management of mental illness which has also been cited in the literature [4]. Finally, one third of the recipients had received information for the MHCC from other recipients.…”

“…The development of an organized network of psychiatric and psychosocial care in Primary Health Care (PHC) has been desirable in health care policy agendas in many countries, as well as in Greece [2,3]. In this model of care, the services for people with mental illnesses are provided by a multidisciplinary community mental health team and constitute a cost-effective method of delivering care [4]. The integration of all these services within the primary health care into a structured cooperation remains a prerequisite to achieve the current trends of psychiatry [5].…”

Treatment dropout at a secondary mental health service

“…3,6,11,20 When analyzing data on the professional in charge of referral, the category without the participation of a physician was associated with higher rates of treatment dropout. One possible hypothesis for future studies would be that the participation of physicians would contribute to a better qualification of referral for patients who indeed need to be referred to specialist treatment, requiring a more regular attendance to appointments.…”

“…Among the factors regularly evidenced as being associated with higher dropout rates in mental health treatment at both primary and secondary health care levels, the following stand out: type of service provider and/or characteristics of health care [2][3][4][5][6] ; professional responsible for referring the patient 7,8 ; time waiting for specialist treatment and difficulties scheduling appointments 9,10 ; patients' beliefs and expectations. 2,3,9 Notwithstanding, when the influence of sociodemographic and economic factors, 2,3,5,7,8,11,12 clinical factors 3,5,7,9,[11][12][13] -especially those related with diagnosis and condition severity -, and different treatment modalities …”

Appendix A: Terminologies

“…The simplest model of provision of community care is for generic (nonspecialized) CMHTs to provide the full range of interventions, staffed by multidisciplinary personnel. These often prioritize adults with severe mental illness, for a local defined geographical catchment area [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]. The central issue here is that CMHTs can offer case management and continuity of care [21], as well as mobility.…”