Mobile Health Platform to Augment Integrated Behavioral Health Care: Pilot in a Large Health System (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Digital and mobile technologies have potential to improve the delivery and scale of integrated care models. OBJECTIVE We aimed to assess acceptability and feasibility, preliminary clinical outcomes, and implementation barriers of a mobile health platform used to augment an existing integrated behavioral health program. METHODS The mobile platform was used by three behavioral health care managers responsible for coordinating disease management in six primary care practices. 89 of 245 individuals (36%) who were referred by their PCP for behavioral health services consented to app-augmented behavioral health care. The mobile health platform functions included chat communication, monthly depression self-report assessments, and psychoeducational content. RESULTS The clinical improvement rate in our sample was 72% although follow-up assessments were only available for 49% of participants. At least one action in the mobile app was completed by 87% of participants (n=78; median=7; IQR=12, 0-130). Behavioral health care managers cited increased documentation burden and language as barriers to use. CONCLUSIONS Our pilot of mobile technology in collaborative care highlights important implementation barriers. Future research should systematically evaluate the implementation of digital and mobile health technology in collaborative care.

Role of Home-Modification Training for Care Managers

With the aging of society, the long-term care insurance system -which includes home modifications to continue living at home- was established in 2000. However, the quality of home modifications has been persistent issue, and effective training is expected to conclusively solve this problem. To this end, the purpose of this study is to clarify the rational for training care managers who plan home modifications. A survey comprising two sets of questionnaires was conducted; one set encompassed is all 62municipalities in Tokyo, whereas the other involved care manager who participated in training program. The results of the first questionnaire showed that, out of 62 municipalities, 9 (14.5%) provided training on home modification, of which 8 (88.9%) provided training on administrative procedures. In one municipality that provided training on practical aspects of home modification, we provide questionnaires to 59 care managers participating in the training. -Lectures on administrative procedures, physical conditions of invalids, and reading drawings were conducted by administrative staff, occupational therapists, and architects, respectively. Afterwards, the participants attended a planning workshop. According to the questionnaire conducted after the workshop, 80.4% of the participants could understand home modifications in the system, 85.5% understood how to modify homes based on the occupants’ symptoms and physical conditions, 81.6% could interpret drawings, 90.2% could plan modifications, and 81.6% found the training useful. These findings indicate that the training of care managers has indeed been effective in actual practice. Improving the quality of home modifications through multidisciplinary cooperation is significant in maintaining home life.

The International Classification of Functioning, Disabilities, and Health categories rated as necessary for care planning for older patients with heart failure: a survey of care managers in Japan

Background Establishing an information-sharing system between medical professionals and welfare/care professionals may help prevent heart failure (HF) exacerbations in community-dwelling older adults. Therefore, we aimed to identify the ICF categories necessary for care managers to develop care plans for older patients with HF. Methods A questionnaire was administered to 695 care managers in Hiroshima, Japan, on ICF items necessary for care planning. We compared the care managers according to their specialties (medical qualifications and welfare or care qualifications). Furthermore, we created a co-occurrence network using text mining, regarding the elements necessary for collaboration between medical and care professionals. Results There were 520 valid responses (74.8%). Forty-nine ICF items, including 18 for body functions, one for body structure, 21 for activities and participation, and nine for environmental factors, were classified as “necessary” for making care plans for older people with HF. Medical professionals more frequently answered “necessary” than care professionals regarding the 11 items for body functions and structure and three items for activities and participation (p < 0.05). Medical–welfare/care collaboration requires (1) information sharing with related organisations; (2) emergency response; (3) a system of cooperation between medical care and non-medical care; (4) consultation and support for individuals and families with life concerns, (5) management of nutrition, exercise, blood pressure and other factors, (6) guidelines for consultation and hospitalisation when physical conditions worsen. Conclusions Our findings showed that 49 ICF categories were required by care managers for care planning, and there was a significant difference in perception between medical and welfare or care qualifications qualifications.

Support for Adjusting the Intentions of Family Members and Users Regarding Care Service Use: Aimed at Care Management

In Japan, there are key healthcare professionals for home nursing care for elderly people called Care Managers. The care manager coordinates the service while adjusting the family situation and the user’s intentions. The purpose of this study was to examine the practical structure of support for adjusting the intentions of family members and users regarding care service use. Data from seven cases, where family members and users have different intentions regarding care service use, were analyzed using the grounded theory approach. The phenomenon of “confirmation of discrepancies” was discovered with six sub-categories: adjusting the intentions of users and their families, effort to restore relationships, expression of intention to refuse involvement, expression of desire for adjustment, arrangement of opportunities for adjustment of intentions, and appropriate service adjustment. Four patterns occurred in the process of “confirmation of discrepancies”: smooth adjustment, restoration and promotion of mutual relationships, failure to reach an agreement, and negative feedback loops. These patterns were based on a combination of the care managers’ degree of understanding strength, the managers’ degree of insistence, the managers’ degree of representation of mutual feelings, the degree of managers’ prediction of life prospects, the degree of trust in care managers, and the degree of expression of family anxiety.

Effectiveness Of Supervision On Work Engagement And Turnover Intention Of Care Managers in Japan

In Japan, care managers engage frail older adults to support their assisted living in long term care insurance system. However, due to the lack of some or all supervision, many care managers face problems such as low work engagement and high turnover rate. This study aims to examine what types of supervision have positive effects on work engagement and turnover intensions of care managers in Japan. The sample of 241 care managers were asked whether they have received individual supervision in the workplace (ISVW), individual supervision in the community (ISVC), group supervision in the workplace (GSVW), or group supervision in the community (GSVC). Independent samples t-tests and one-way ANOVAs were conducted to examine the effectiveness of each types of supervision on work engagement and turnover intension. T-tests showed that only GSVW was significantly related to work engagement (t=-2.06, p&lt;0.05). Whereas, only ISVW had a significant effect on turnover intensions (t=2.37, p&lt;0.05). One-way ANOVAs revealed that 28 care managers receiving GSV had significantly higher work engagement than 92 care managers who did not receive any SV (F=5.33, p&lt;0.01). 40 care managers receiving both ISV and GSV showed significantly lower turnover intentions than 92 care managers who received neither ISV nor GSV (F=2.84, p&lt;0.05). Since the results have implications for the importance of supervisions to enhance work engagement or to reduce turnover intension of care managers, a larger sample will need to confirm these effects.

Research concerning the Care Planning by Care Managers in Home-Based Community Care Support Centers of Japan

The research was conducted between February 9 and 28, 2017. The care management centers were randomly selected from the national list of the centers. The data were collected by self-administered questionnaires mailed to the care managers at 500 care management centers in six prefectures in the Kinki area of Japan. The independent variables were gender, age, experience years of care managers and/or social workers, Clients’ Physical and Mental conditions (CPM), Client’s Lifestyle (CL), Physical and Mental conditions of the Caregivers (PMC), and Human and Financial resources for Clients and their Caregivers (HFCC). The dependent of variables were the categorized contents in the care planning. They included the Approach for exploring Client’s needs (AC), Coordination among Care services within the program in accordance with the needs of client (CC), Coordination among Formal services and informal supports without the program in accordance with the needs of clients (CF). We examined the relationships between the dependent and independent variables by using the Structural Equation Modeling. The results indicated that the goodness of the fit indices was acceptable, and we retained the models. In correlational analyses, AC was significantly correlated with PMC (p&lt;.01), CPM (p&lt;.05), and CL (p&lt;.001). CC was significantly correlated with PMC (p&lt;.001), CPM (p&lt;.001), and CL (p&lt;.01). CF was significantly correlated with PMC (p&lt;.05), HFCC (p&lt;.05), and CL (p&lt;.05). In conclusion, our findings suggest that care managers should recognize that information concerning the clients’ and their caregivers’ conditions is significant in making appropriate care planning for the clients and their caregivers.

Who Should Make Care Arrangement for Older Adults? Heteronormative Family Responsibility in Japan

In Japan, despite the greater availability of public care services upon implementation of national long-term care insurance, families are still considered as primarily responsible to make care arrangement for older adults. My aim in this study was to explore (hetero)normative ideas about families that underlie Japan’s institutionalized practices of elder care. In doing so, I focused on care managers, who are certified care practitioners helping families to make care arrangement, and whether they would count older adults’ same-sex partners as legitimate family members to participate in such arrangement. Data were collected from 1,580 care managers working for officially designated in-home care providers across the nation. Preliminary analysis revealed that although most care managers believed the voices of same-sex partners should be preferably reflected in the process of care arrangement, they also thought that these partners could not participate in such process without permission from older adult’s “blood relatives” (e.g., siblings).

Family and Psychosocial Considerations in Critical Care

This chapter discusses the expanding movement to humanize critical care and intensive care settings. An international perspective is provided with regard to how patients, families, and professionals, along with health care managers and authorities, can redesign health care systems to overcome the obstacles of dehumanization in hospitals and health centers, with social interest at the core. The authors maintain that caring for all parties, including the family, that coexist in the health care system is critical to building an excellent and effective service.

The care manager meeting the patients’ unique needs using the care manager model—A qualitative study of experienced care managers

Background Implementation of a care manager in a collaborative care team in Swedish primary care via a randomized controlled trial showed successful outcome. As four years have elapsed since the implementation of care managers, it is important to gain knowledge about the care managers’ long-term skills and experiences. The purpose was to examine how long-term experienced care managers perceived and experienced their role and how they related to and applied the care manager model. Method Qualitative study with a focus group and interviews with nine nurses who had worked for more than two years as care managers for common mental disorders. The analysis used Systematic Text Condensation. Results Four codes arose from the analysis: Person-centred; Acting outside the comfort zone; Successful, albeit some difficulties; Pride and satisfaction. The care manager model served as a handrail for the care manager, providing a trustful and safe environment. Difficulties sometimes arose in the collaboration with other professionals. Conclusion This study shows that long-term experience of working as a care manager contributed to an in-depth insight and understanding of the care manager model and enabled care managers to be flexible and act outside the comfort zone when providing care and support to the patient. A new concept emerged during the analytical process, i.e. the Anchored Care Manager, which described the special competencies gained through experience. Trial registration NCT02378272 Care Manager—Coordinating Care for Person Centered Management of Depression in Primary Care (PRIM—CARE).