Optimizing a Halfway House to Meet Mental Health Care Users’ Occupational Needs

2021 ◽  
pp. 000841742110448
Author(s):  
Itumeleng Augustine Tsatsi ◽  
Nicola Ann Plastow
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Thematic Analysis ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Participatory Action ◽  
Halfway House ◽  
Health And Wellbeing ◽  
Halfway Houses

Background. Halfway houses (HwH) may support community reintegration of mental health care users and can be effective in meeting occupational needs of residents. However, they are not optimally used in South Africa. Purpose. This study aimed to improve the functioning of a HwH so that it better meets occupational needs of the resident mental health care users. It draws on Doble & Santha; ( 2008 ) seven occupational needs. Method. A four-phase Participatory Action Research methodology was used. We conducted thematic analysis to describe met and unmet needs within PAR phases. Findings. Occupational needs of accomplishment, renewal, pleasure and companionship were being met. However, coherence, agency and affirmation needs were not being met. An additional occupational need for interdependence, based on the African ethic of Ubuntu, was identified. Implications. HwH functioning affected residents’ experiences of health and wellbeing. Engagement in collective occupations can contribute to meeting the occupational need of interdependence.

scholarly journals COVID-19, psychosocial issues, politics, and public mental health care

2021 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 293-303
Author(s):  
Anthony L Pillay ◽  
Anne L Kramers-Olen
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Health Care Systems ◽  
Mental Health Policy ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
The Public ◽  
Care Systems ◽  
Public Mental Health Care

The COVID-19 pandemic heralded challenges that were both significant and unfamiliar, placing inordinate burdens on health care systems, economies, and the collective psyche of citizens. The pandemic underscored the tenuous intersections between public mental health care, politics, economics, and psychosocial capital. In South Africa, the inadequacies of the public health system have been laid bare, and the disproportionate privileges of the private health care system exposed. This article critically considers government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, the psychosocial correlates of lockdown, politics, corruption, and public mental health policy in South Africa.

Health care practitioners' perceptions of public mental health care in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 370-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dalena van Rooyen ◽  
Kegan Topper ◽  
David Morton ◽  
Joanitha Strümpher ◽  
Isabell Schierenbeck ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
Eastern Cape ◽  
Health Care Practitioners ◽  
Public Mental Health Care

scholarly journals Unmet mental health needs in the general population: perspectives of Belgian health and social care professionals

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Rens ◽  
Geert Dom ◽  
Roy Remmen ◽  
Joris Michielsen ◽  
Kris Van den Broeck
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Primary Care ◽  
Health Care ◽  
General Population ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Mental Health Needs ◽  
Epidemiological Research ◽  
Unmet Mental Health

Abstract Background An unmet mental health need exists when someone has a mental health problem but doesn’t receive formal care, or when the care received is insufficient or inadequate. Epidemiological research has identified both structural and attitudinal barriers to care which lead to unmet mental health needs, but reviewed literature has shown gaps in qualitative research on unmet mental health needs. This study aimed to explore unmet mental health needs in the general population from the perspective of professionals working with vulnerable groups. Methods Four focus group discussions and two interviews with 34 participants were conducted from October 2019 to January 2020. Participants’ professional backgrounds encompassed social work, mental health care and primary care in one rural and one urban primary care zone in Antwerp, Belgium. A topic guide was used to prompt discussions about which groups have high unmet mental health needs and why. Transcripts were coded using thematic analysis. Results Five themes emerged, which are subdivided in several subthemes: (1) socio-demographic determinants and disorder characteristics associated with unmet mental health needs; (2) demand-side barriers; (3) supply-side barriers; (4) consequences of unmet mental health needs; and (5) suggested improvements for meeting unmet mental health needs. Conclusions Findings of epidemiological research were largely corroborated. Some additional groups with high unmet needs were identified. Professionals argued that they are often confronted with cases which are too complex for regular psychiatric care and highlighted the problem of care avoidance. Important system-level factors include waiting times of subsidized services and cost of non-subsidized services. Feelings of burden and powerlessness are common among professionals who are often confronted with unmet needs. Professionals discussed future directions for an equitable mental health care provision, which should be accessible and targeted at those in the greatest need. Further research is needed to include the patients’ perspective of unmet mental health needs.

Health service costs and their association with functional impairment among adults receiving integrated mental health care in five low- and middle-income countries: the PRIME cohort study

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 567-576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dan Chisholm ◽  
Emily Garman ◽  
Erica Breuer ◽  
Abebaw Fekadu ◽  
Charlotte Hanlon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
South Africa ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Cohort Study ◽  
Health Service ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Functional Impairment ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Health Service Costs

Abstract This study examines the level and distribution of service costs—and their association with functional impairment at baseline and over time—for persons with mental disorder receiving integrated primary mental health care. The study was conducted over a 12-month follow-up period in five low- and middle-income countries participating in the Programme for Improving Mental health carE study (Ethiopia, India, Nepal, South Africa and Uganda). Data were drawn from a multi-country intervention cohort study, made up of adults identified by primary care providers as having alcohol use disorders, depression, psychosis and, in the three low-income countries, epilepsy. Health service, travel and time costs, including any out-of-pocket (OOP) expenditures by households, were calculated (in US dollars for the year 2015) and assessed at baseline as well as prospectively using linear regression for their association with functional impairment. Cohort samples were characterized by low levels of educational attainment (Ethiopia and Uganda) and/or high levels of unemployment (Nepal, South Africa and Uganda). Total health service costs per case for the 3 months preceding baseline assessment averaged more than US$20 in South Africa, $10 in Nepal and US$3–7 in Ethiopia, India and Uganda; OOP expenditures ranged from $2 per case in India to $16 in Ethiopia. Higher service costs and OOP expenditure were found to be associated with greater functional impairment in all five sites, but differences only reached statistical significance in Ethiopia and India for service costs and India and Uganda for OOP expenditure. At the 12-month assessment, following initiation of treatment, service costs and OOP expenditure were found to be lower in Ethiopia, South Africa and Uganda, but higher in India and Nepal. There was a pattern of greater reduction in service costs and OOP spending for those whose functional status had improved in all five sites, but this was only statistically significant in Nepal.

Disparate patterns of hospitalisation reflect unmet needs and persistent ethnic inequalities in mental health care: the Scottish health and ethnicity linkage study

2013 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Narinder Bansal ◽  
Raj Bhopal ◽  
Gina Netto ◽  
Donald Lyons ◽  
Markus F.C. Steiner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Unmet Needs ◽  
Linkage Study ◽  
Ethnic Inequalities
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