The market for a community rehabilitation service

Fifty-two mental health workers in South Manchester were asked to complete a survey to try to identify patients with chronic mental health problems who would benefit from home-based rehabilitation. These patients were known to the services but were unwilling to attend activities in the day hospital or day centre or come into hospital for in-patient rehabilitation. Seventy per cent of the mental health workers who comprised psychiatrists, social workers and community psychiatric nurses completed the survey. Overall 68 patients were identified. Negative symptoms or defect state were the most frequently reported problems with difficulties with engaging or poor compliance being the next most frequently reported problem. There were some differences in the ranking of the order of problems by different professional groups.

Download Full-text

Training primary mental health workers in Malawi, to enable them to treat patients with mental health problems and assess the impact on the number of cases treated for malaria and non-specific musculoskeletal pains

http://isrctn.org/> ◽

10.1186/isrctn66182879 ◽

2013 ◽

Author(s):

Felix Kauye

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Workers ◽

Health Problems ◽

Mental Health Workers ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

Suicide among migrants

Oxford Textbook of Suicidology and Suicide Prevention ◽

10.1093/med/9780198834441.003.0028 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 233-240

Author(s):

Adam Montgomery ◽

Dinesh Bhugra

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Workers ◽

Mental Health Workers ◽

Refugee Crisis ◽

Way Of Life ◽

Public Health Services ◽

Migrant Populations ◽

Self Harm ◽

Second World

Migration of people has occurred worldwide for thousands of years. The reasons that many people migrate are varied and due to these widely differing motivations, problems that migrants face are also diverse; they may undergo differing levels of acculturation, resulting in changes to their way of life, or physical or mental health. Worldwide, migration is on the rise, especially in Europe, where the migration and displacement of people is on a scale that has not been seen since the Second World War. Mental health problems associated with migrants are also increasing, including self-harm and suicide. This unprecedented movement of peoples provides new challenges to mental health workers and public health services on how best to offer support in suicide prevention. In this chapter, we discuss rates of self-harm and suicide in migrant populations worldwide, challenges from the recent refugee crisis, and explore primary and secondary preventative strategies against suicide.

Download Full-text

Survey of roles of community psychiatric nurses and occupational therapists

Psychiatric Bulletin ◽

10.1192/pb.21.2.70 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 70-73 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Pam Filson ◽

Tony Kendrick

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Community Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Workers ◽

Occupational Therapists ◽

Mental Health Workers ◽

Psychiatric Nurses ◽

Work Skills ◽

Anxiety Management ◽

Community Psychiatric

The roles of community mental health professionals may overlap and need clarifying. A survey is described of 95 occupational therapists (OT) and 200 community psychiatric nurses (CPN), of their views on their respective roles, and information on current practices. Administering medication and crisis intervention were regarded as specifically CPN roles, yet 26% of CPNs did not regularly administer medication. Half of the CPNs' clients were not chronically mentally ill, and over two-thirds of the nurses regularly carried out counselling and anxiety management. Assessing activities of daily living and work skills were seen specifically as OT tasks, yet 60% of the OTs did not usually assess work skills in practice. Roles overlapped considerably, suggesting that a more efficient approach might be to develop a generic core training for community mental health workers.

Download Full-text

Chinese mental health workers’ family-focused practices: a cross-sectional survey

BMC Health Services Research ◽

10.1186/s12913-021-06572-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Hao Yao ◽

Lili Guan ◽

Changchun Zhang ◽

Yang Pan ◽

Jinxiang Han ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Disorders ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Health Professionals ◽

Health Workers ◽

Mental Health Workers ◽

Psychiatric Nurses ◽

Dissemination And Implementation ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Convenience Sample

Abstract Background Mental disorders impose heavy burdens on patients’ families and children. It is imperative to provide family-focused services to avoid adverse effects from mental disorders on patients’ families and children. However, implementing such services requires a great deal of involvement of mental health workers. This study investigated the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and practices in respect to family-focused practices (FFP) in a sample of Chinese mental health workers. Methods A cross-sectional study design was employed to examine the attitudes, knowledge, skills, and practices of a convenience sample of Chinese mental health workers in respect to FFP, using the Chinese version of the Family-Focused Mental Health Practice Questionnaire (FFMHPQ). Results In total, 515 mental health workers participated in our study, including 213 psychiatrists, 269 psychiatric nurses, and 34 allied mental health professionals (20 clinical psychologists, 9 mental health social workers, and 4 occupational therapists). Compared with psychiatric nurses, psychiatrists and allied mental health professionals provided more support for families and children of patients with mental illness and were more willing to receive further training in FFP. However, there were no significant differences on knowledge, skills, and confidence across different profession types. After adjusting for demographic and occupational variables, previous training in FFP was positively associated with mental health workers’ knowledge, skills, and confidence about FFP, but not actual support to families and children. Conclusions Professional differences on FFP exist in Chinese mental health workers. Training is needed to engage psychiatrists and other allied workforce in dissemination and implementation of FFP in China.

Download Full-text

The Early Impact of the Covid-19 Emergency on Mental Health Workers: A Survey in Lombardy, Italy

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph17228615 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (22) ◽

pp. 8615

Author(s):

Filippo Rapisarda ◽

Martine Vallarino ◽

Elena Cavallini ◽

Angelo Barbato ◽

Camille Brousseau-Paradis ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Online Survey ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Workers ◽

Outpatient Service ◽

Well Being ◽

Work Conditions ◽

Mental Health Workers ◽

Inpatient Service ◽

Service Workers

Lombardy was the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in Italy, and in March 2020 the rapid escalation in cases prompted the Italian Government to decree a mandatory lockdown and to introduce safety practices in mental health services. The general objective of the study is to evaluate the early impact of the Covid-19 emergency and quarantine on the well-being and work practices of mental health service personnel and professionals. Data were collected through an online survey of workers and professionals working with people with mental health problems in Lombardy in several outpatient and inpatient services. Their socio-demographic characteristics, professional background, description of working conditions during lockdown and psychological distress levels were collected. All analyses were performed on a sample of 241. Approximately, 31% of the participants obtained a severe score in at least one of the burnout dimensions, 11.6% showed moderate or severe levels of anxiety, and 6.6% had a moderate or severe level of depression. Different work conditions and patterns of distress were found for outpatient service workers and inpatient service workers. The overall impact of the Covid-19 emergency on mental health workers’ level of distress was mild, although a significant number of workers experienced severe levels of depersonalization and anxiety. More research is needed to assess specific predictive factors.

Download Full-text

Fund-holding and commissioning general practitioners

Psychiatric Bulletin ◽

10.1192/pb.18.4.196 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 18 (4) ◽

pp. 196-199 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Tony Kendrick

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Service Provision ◽

Secondary Care ◽

Health Workers ◽

Community Mental Health Services ◽

Mental Health Workers ◽

Psychiatric Nurses ◽

Community Psychiatric ◽

Almost All ◽

Direct Referral

General practice fund-holders purchase secondary care for their patients directly, encouraging competition between providers. The scheme now includes almost all community mental health services. Practice counsellors may now be funded from secondary care budgets. Fund-holders may use their purchasing power to influence out-patient policies, have consultant sessions in their surgeries, gain direct referral to community psychiatric nurses, resist sectorisation, or change to a different provider altogether. The implications for mental health teams and their patients are discussed. Mental health workers must define their roles very dearly, and get involved in negotiating contracts now, to influence future service provision.

Download Full-text

Trialog - concept and research

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(11)73805-6 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (S2) ◽

pp. 2102-2102

Author(s):

M. Amering

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

Mental Health Professionals ◽

Mental Health Problems ◽

Health Workers ◽

Evidence Base ◽

Mental Health Workers ◽

Active Involvement ◽

Starting Point ◽

German Speaking ◽

Evaluative Research

The active involvement of users of services and their families and friends into mental health care and research is essential for the success of mental health services and initiatives worldwide. Also, co-operations between mental health professionals, users and carers are needed to solve methodological problems of evaluative research and generate new models of needs-orientated interventions. However, accepting each other in a working partnership for a multiperspective evidence base is still a challenge for professionals as well as for users and relatives and friends. Changes in structures as well as in forms of communication are warranted.In Trialogue-groups users, carers and mental health workers meet regularly in an open discussion forum, that is located on ‘neutral terrain’ - outside any therapeutic, familial or institutional context - with the aim of communicating about and discussing the experiences and consequences of mental health problems and ways to deal with them. This setting offers new possibilities for gaining knowledge and insight and developing new forms of communication. It also functions as a basis and starting point for trialogic activities on different levels - e.g. serving on quality control boards - and different topics - e.g. anti-stigma projects. In German speaking countries well over hundred Trialogue groups are regularly attended by altogether ∼ five thousand people. Trialogues are inexpensive and a great number of people seem to benefit from participation. Current ideas for the scientific evaluation of Trialogues regarding process as well as possible outcomes pose conceptual and methodological challenges.

Download Full-text