Evaluating complex mental health care in outpatient care in rural Lower Saxony: an ecologic study

Australia has a population of around 4 million people aged 65 years and over, many of whom are at risk of developing cognitive decline, mental illness, and/or psychological problems associated with physical illnesses. The aim of this study was to describe the pattern of specialised mental healthcare provision (availability, placement capacity, balance of care and diversity) for this age group in urban and rural health districts in Australia. The Description and Evaluation of Services and DirectoriEs for Long Term Care (DESDE-LTC) tool was used in nine urban and two rural health districts of the thirty-one Primary Health Networks across Australia. For the most part service provision was limited to hospital and outpatient care across all study areas. The latter was mainly restricted to health-related outpatient care, and there was a relative lack of social outpatient care. While both acute and non-acute hospital care were available in urban areas, in rural areas hospital care was limited to acute care. Limited access to comprehensive mental health care, and the uniformity in provision across areas in spite of differences in demographic, socioeconomic and health characteristics raises issues of equity in regard to psychogeriatric care in this country. Comparing patterns of mental health service provision across the age span using the same classification method allows for a better understanding of care provision and gap analysis for evidence-informed policy.

Download Full-text

A Tribute to the Late William J. Curran

The Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics ◽

10.1017/s1073110500004058 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 24 (3) ◽

pp. 274-275

Author(s):

O. Lawrence ◽

J.D. Gostin

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Mental Illness ◽

United Nations ◽

Mental Health Care ◽

Harvard University ◽

Legal Medicine ◽

General Assembly ◽

International Institute ◽

University Professor

In the summer of 1979, a group of experts on law, medicine, and ethics assembled in Siracusa, Sicily, under the auspices of the International Commission of Jurists and the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Science, to draft guidelines on the rights of persons with mental illness. Sitting across the table from me was a quiet, proud man of distinctive intelligence, William J. Curran, Frances Glessner Lee Professor of Legal Medicine at Harvard University. Professor Curran was one of the principal drafters of those guidelines. Many years later in 1991, after several subsequent re-drafts by United Nations (U.N.) Rapporteur Erica-Irene Daes, the text was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly as the Principles for the Protection of Persons with Mental Illness and for the Improvement of Mental Health Care. This was the kind of remarkable achievement in the field of law and medicine that Professor Curran repeated throughout his distinguished career.

Download Full-text

Pediatricians' Mental Health Care Role Suggested

Pediatric News ◽

10.1016/s0031-398x(08)70425-9 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 42 (9) ◽

pp. 18

Author(s):

DOUG BRUNK

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Mental Health Care

Download Full-text

Primary Care Collaboration on Mental Health Care Urged

Internal Medicine News ◽

10.1016/s1097-8690(05)72319-2 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 38 (21) ◽

pp. 90

Author(s):

MARY ELLEN SCHNEIDER

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Primary Care ◽

Health Care ◽

Mental Health Care

Download Full-text

Handbook of Person-Centered Mental Health Care

10.1027/00568-000 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Nosheen Akhtar ◽

Cheryl Forchuk ◽

Katherine McKay ◽

Sandra Fisman ◽

Abraham Rudnick

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Mental Health Care

Download Full-text

Psychometric Properties of the German Version of the Scale to Assess the Therapeutic Relationship in Community Mental Health Care (D-STAR)

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759/a000105 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 28 (4) ◽

pp. 255-261 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Sabine Loos ◽

Reinhold Kilian ◽

Thomas Becker ◽

Birgit Janssen ◽

Harald Freyberger ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Health Care ◽

Community Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Care ◽

Psychometric Properties ◽

Therapeutic Relationship ◽

Internal Consistency ◽

Convergent Validity ◽

Community Mental Health Care ◽

German Version

Objective: There are presently no instruments available in German language to assess the therapeutic relationship in psychiatric care. This study validates the German version of the Scale to Assess the Therapeutic Relationship in Community Mental Health Care (D-STAR). Method: 460 persons with severe mental illness and 154 clinicians who had participated in a multicenter RCT testing a discharge planning intervention completed the D-STAR. Psychometric properties were established via item analysis, analyses of missing values, internal consistency, and confirmatory factor analysis. Furthermore, convergent validity was scrutinized via calculating correlations of the D-STAR scales with two measures of treatment satisfaction. Results: As in the original English version, fit indices of a 3-factor model of the therapeutic relationship were only moderate. However, the feasibility and internal consistency of the D-STAR was good, and correlations with other measures suggested reasonable convergent validity. Conclusions: The psychometric properties of the D-STAR are acceptable. Its use can be recommended in German-speaking countries to assess the therapeutic relationship in both routine care and research.

Download Full-text