Performance measurement for co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders

Background  

Co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders (COD) are the norm rather than the exception. It is therefore critical that performance measures are developed to assess the quality of care for individuals with COD irrespective of whether they seek care in mental health systems or substance abuse systems or both.     

Likelihood of asking for help in caregivers of women with substance use or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders

Family members are important to the well-being of their relatives with substance use disorders or co-occurring substance use and mental disorders. Many caregivers experience high levels of burden, negatively impacting their capacity to provide support to their ill family member. The Andersen health care utilization model (Andersen & Newman, 1973, 2005) was used to identify the impact of predisposing, enabling and need factors hypothesized to predict caregivers' likelihood of asking for help and support with their caregiving role. The sample include 82 women recruited from outpatient or inpatient substance abuse treatment centers and 82 family caregivers nominated by these women. Findings showed that almost half of caregivers were unlikely to ask for help. Multiple regression analysis found that two need variables were statistically signficant predictors of caregivers' likelihood to ask for help. Caregivers who had higher subject burden (worry) and caregivers who provided more assistance with daily living were more likely to ask for help. It is suggested that case managers assess the amount of worried family caregivers' experience because their worries may provide the motivation to ask for help or to participate in help when it is offered to them.     

Associations between caregiving and health outcomes among parents of children with mental illness: an attachment perspective

This study examines the associations between attachment, caregiving, and health outcomes (perceptions of somatic and depressive symptoms) in a sample of 194 parents who have a child with mental illness. Securely attached parents reported using more comforting behavior and tactile communication with their children with mental illness. Parents with a fearful attachment reported using more overinvolved and egocentric caregiving, as well as less tactile communication, and these caregiving behaviors partially mediated a positive association between fearful attachment and both somatic and depressive symptom reports. Parents with a preoccupied attachment style reported using more overinvolved, supportive, egocentric, and emotionally insensitive caregiving behavior, as well as having more depressive symptoms. The association between preoccupied attachment and depressive symptom reports was partially mediated by overinvolved caregiving. Practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.     

Longitudinal effects of integrated treatment on alcohol use for persons with serious mental illness and substance use disorders

A randomized experimental design was used to assign participants to an integrated mental health and substance use treatment program or to standard hospital treatment. A multilevel, nonlinear model was used to estimate hospital treatment effects on days of alcohol use for persons with serious mental illness and substance use disorders over 18 months. The integrated treatment program had a significant effect on the rate of alcohol use at 2 months postdischarge, reducing the rate of use by 54%. Motivation for sobriety at hospital discharge, posttreatment self-help attendance, and social support for sobriety were also found to reduce the rate of use during the follow-up period. Implications for mental health treatment and aftercare support are discussed.     

Adolescents with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders in primary care

Co-occurring mental and substance use disorders (COD) among children and adolescents present special challenges for family members and primary care clinicians. A broad understanding of prevalence rates, etiology, risk and protective factors, and intervention strategies is important in promoting evidence-based practices. The authors present a synopsis of important issues in this area and provide support for integrating behavioral health into primary care practice.     

The relationship between supply and hospitalization rates for mental illness and substance use disorders

This study investigated the extent to which mental illness and substance use hospitalization rates were related to the supply of psychiatric treatment services. Supply variables, notably the per capita rate of psychiatrists, primary care physicians, and specialty units, were strongly related to mental illness and substance use hospitalization rates to acute care hospitals across 114 small geographic areas in Iowa. The supply of outpatient services was not related to hospitalization rates. The need to study the reliability of patient assessment processes, refine guidelines and admissions criteria, and understand the contributions of supply variables to hospitalization rates are indicated by these results. A conceptual model is offered within which the dynamic cycle from patient functioning to service delivery may be framed.     

Measuring and valuing mental health for use in economic evaluation

This article presents research undertaken as part of a wider programme of work concerned with measuring and health and wellbeing for economic evaluation. The focus is on developing quality adjusted life years (QALYs) in mental health, but the issues are common across all areas of health care. The article begins by reviewing the issues of what should be valued (health or broader notions of wellbeing), how mental health and wellbeing should be described, how mental health states should be valued and who should do the valuing. The article presents four pieces of work. The first is a re-analysis of the ONS Psychiatric Morbidity 2000 Survey to provide evidence on the relevance of generic measures across different mental health disorders. It found that common mental health problems, such as anxiety and depression, had a significant impact on the generic preference-based measure of health in the SF-6D, but psychosis and personality disorders did not. The article then presents two studies using the ratings of people experiencing the states of health. Both studies found that people experiencing different health states gave mental health greater weight than physical health compared to members of the general public trying to imagine the health states. Finally, the article presents a study developing a condition-specific preference-based measure for calculating QALYs from an existing measure of mental health, the CORE-OM, using modern psychometric methods to construct health states amenable to valuation. It also considers a proposal to develop an entirely new QALY measure in mental health.     

Externally caused deaths for adults with substance use and mental disorders

For decades, there have been reports of shorter life expectancy among those with mental illness, especially those with more serious psychiatric disorders. The purpose of this study was to compare the risk of mortality among Medicaid beneficiaries, aged 18–64 years, treated for mental illness to a comparable group who were not mentally ill and to the general population. The data used were from the Massachusetts Division of Medical Assistance and records of deaths from the Department of Public Health in Massachusetts. Individuals treated for both psychiatric illness and substance use disorders (dual diagnoses) were compared separately from those whose treatment was only for a psychiatric disorder. For all Medicaid beneficiaries, the most common causes of death were attributed to heart disease and cancer. When compared to the general population, adjusted odds ratios estimated death by injury to be twice as likely among the mentally ill when compared to the general population. Medicaid beneficiaries with dual diagnoses are 6–8 times more likely to die of injury, primarily poisoning, than their counterparts treated for medical conditions only.     

重性精神疾病患者家庭儿童发展的研究现况

父母患有重性精神疾病的儿童是一个很大的群体,他们具有和常人不同的遗传基础和环境因素,是精神问题的高风险人群。但是,由于一些保护性因素的存在,仍然有许多儿童并未出现不利后果。儿童青少年不利结果常常是父母精神疾病与各种因素相互作用的结果,其影响机制是多层面的,包括广泛的气质性/遗传性与心理社会因素。已有的证据表明,针对父母有精神疾病的儿童进行干预能降低罹患风险。本文通过梳理文献,综述了国内外研究成果,提出了现有研究的局限及未来基于中国文化背景下的研究主题。     

High-frequency use of corrections,health, and social services,and association with mental illness and substance use

Background

A subgroup of individuals becomes entrenched in a “revolving door” involving corrections, health, and social welfare services. Little research has investigated the numbers of people that are in frequent contact with multiple public agencies, the costs associated with these encounters, or the characteristics of the people concerned. The present study used linked administrative data to examine offenders who were also very frequent users of health and social services. We investigated the magnitude and distribution of costs attributable to different categories of service for those in the top 10 % of sentences to either community or custodial settings. We hypothesized that the members of these subgroups would be significantly more likely to have substance use and other mental disorders than other members of the offender population.

Methods

Data were linked across agencies responsible for services to the entire population of British Columbia spanning justice, health, and income assistance. Individuals were eligible for inclusion in the study if they were sentenced at least once in the Vancouver Provincial Court between 2003 and 2012. We examined the subset of participants who fell within the top 10 % of sentences and at least two of the following service categories: community physician services; hospital days; pharmaceutical costs; or income assistance between 2007 and 2012. We examined two groups of offenders separately (those in the top ten percent sentenced to community supervision or to custody) due to differences in time at risk and availability to receive community-based services.

Results

From more than 14,000 offenders sentenced in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, very High Frequency service users associated with community (n = 216) and custody (n = 107) sentences incurred average attributable public service costs of $168,000 and $247,000 respectively over a 5-year period of observation. Health-related costs for both groups were over $80,000 per person, primarily associated with hospital admissions. Across both groups, 99 % had been diagnosed with at least one mental disorder and over 80 % had co-occurring substance use and another mental disorder.

Conclusions

A subset of offenders with concurrent psychiatric disorders receives extremely high levels of service from health, social welfare, and justice sectors in close temporal succession. Members of this subpopulation require targeted supports in order to produce positive outcomes and prevent the perpetuation of a costly and ineffective revolving door.

     

Religious/spiritual coping among women trauma survivors with mental health and substance use disorders

This study examines the types of religious/spiritual coping used by women trauma survivors with co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders. Analyses based on data from 2 large racially diverse samples indicate that women from the study population rely considerably more on positive, than negative, religious coping, and that their reliance on religious coping, in general, is significantly higher than that of the general population. Numerous significant relationships were also found between the severity of trauma-related and mental health symptoms and more negative religious coping. This study further suggests that more frequent childhood abuse and childhood sexual violence are especially associated with negative religious coping in adulthood. Findings support the importance of spiritual coping for women trauma survivors with co-occurring disorders and suggest the value of increased attention to spirituality in behavioral health services, especially in assessment and therapeutic relationships.     

Using incentives to reduce substance use and other health risk behaviors among people with serious mental illness

IntroductionSerious mental illness (SMI) is associated with high rates of tobacco and other drug dependence, poor treatment compliance, obesity and low levels of physical activity, which have severe medical and psychosocial consequences. Interventions that effectively reduce these health risk behaviors among people with SMI are urgently needed.MethodsPublished reports from studies evaluating incentive-based treatments for promoting tobacco and other drug abstinence, treatment attendance, medication use and increased physical activity are reviewed.ResultsResults of this review indicate the efficacy of incentive-based treatments for reducing tobacco and other drug use among people with SMI. Few studies have examined whether incentive-based treatments improve treatment attendance, medication use and physical activity levels in people with SMI; however, initial evidence is positive and indicates that further research in these areas is warranted.ConclusionGiven the medical and psychosocial costs of tobacco and other drug use, treatment non-compliance and physical inactivity, and the efficacy of incentive-based treatments for improving these behaviors, such interventions should be further developed and integrated into behavioral health treatment programs for people with SMI.     

Impact of a population‐wide mental health promotion campaign on people with a diagnosed mental illness or recent mental health problem

Objectives : To determine the impact of the Act‐Belong‐Commit mental health promotion campaign on people with a diagnosed mental illness or who had sought professional help for a mental health problem in the previous 12 months. Method : In 2013 and 2014, 1,200 adults in Western Australia were interviewed by telephone. The questionnaire measured campaign reach, impact on beliefs about mental health and mental illness and behavioural impact. Results : Campaign impact on changing the way respondents thought about mental health was significantly higher among those with a mental illness or who had sought help (41.4% vs 24.2%; p<0.001), as was doing something for their mental health as a result of their exposure to the campaign (20.5% vs 8.7%; p<0.001). Conclusions : The campaign appears to empower people with a mental illness or who recently sought help to take steps of their own to enhance their mental health.     

苯丙酮尿症患儿家长心理健康水平与患儿饮食治疗依从性关系探讨

目的 探讨苯丙酮尿症(phenylketonuria,PKU)患儿家长心理健康水平与患儿饮食治疗依从性关系。 方法 调查分析持续治疗的63例PKU患儿家长的心理健康水平与患儿治疗随访过程中苯丙氨酸浓度、随访周期。PKU患儿家长的心理健康水平采用SCL-90自评心理症状量表、抑郁自评量表(Self-Rating Depression Scale,SDS)、焦虑自评量表(Self-Rating Anxiety Scale,SAS)进行自评,按心理症状因子分统计分成I、II组,并自制一般情况问卷调查。选取儿保科健康查体幼儿家长作为对照组。结果 1)PKU患儿家长的心理健康水平显著低于对照组(除外恐惧、人际敏感因子t值均＞2.78,P值均＜0.01);2)PKU患儿家长的心理健康水平I组低于II组,I组心理症状因子分均高于II组(除外恐惧因子t值均＞4.084,P＜0.01);3)I组患儿苯丙氨酸浓度控制好于II组(χ²=29.866,P＜0.01),随访周期短(t=3.535,P＜0.01),显示良好饮食治疗依从性;4)I组、II组中PKU患儿家长其文化程度、对疾病的认知度差异均有高度统计学意义(χ²=13.445,9.718,P均＜0.01)。 结论PKU患儿饮食治疗依从性较好的家长心理健康水平较低;患儿饮食治疗依从性与家长的家庭收入、文化程度、对疾病的认知度等有关。要提高患儿饮食治疗依从性,确保智力正常发育,家长是关键。     

Stigma towards mental illness and substance use issues in primary health care: Challenges and opportunities for Latin America

Stigma towards mental illness and addictive disorders is a global problem and one of the main obstacles in tackling this issue remains the effective integration of mental health services into primary health care (PHC). In Latin America, information has significantly increased on the existence of stigma; however, little is known about effective interventions to prevent stigma and promote recovery-oriented practices in PHC. The aim of this study is to understand the existing evidence regarding mental health stigma in PHC with a special focus on the Latin American region. A scoping review of the literature related to mental health stigma in PHC was conducted. Two hundred and seventeen articles were evaluated; 74 met inclusion criteria and 14 additional articles were selected from references of search results. Results were subdivided into five different perspectives: users, family members and significant others, health professionals, contextual factors, and potential effective interventions. Only nine studies were based in Latin America, and only one described an intervention to reduce stigma in mental health services, not specifically in PHC. We found an urgent need to develop interventions to understand and reduce stigma in PHC settings, especially in Latin America.     

Increased prevalence of chronic physical health disorders in Australians with diagnosed mental illness

Objective: To compare chronic physical health disorder prevalence amongst Australian adults with and without mental illness. Method: Total n=1,716 participants (58% female) with a mean age of 52 ± 13 years (range: 18 to 89 years) completed an online survey of Australian adults in 2010. Outcome measures including prevalence of chronic physical conditions and self‐reported body mass index (BMI) in n=387 (23%) with a self‐reported mental illness diagnosis were compared to respondents without mental illness. Results: A significantly higher proportion of participants with mental illness were obese (BMI ≥ 30; 31 vs 24%, p=0.005). Adjusted odds ratios (OR) for coronary heart disease, diabetes, chronic bronchitis or emphysema, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome, and food allergies or intolerances (OR range: 1.54–3.19) demonstrated that chronic physical disorders were significantly more common in participants with a mental illness. Conclusion: Australian adults with a diagnosis for mental illness have a significantly increased likelihood of demonstrating chronic physical health disorders compared to persons without mental illness. Implications: Health professionals must be alert to the increased likelihood of comorbid chronic physical disorders in persons with a mental illness and should consider the adoption of holistic approaches when treating those with either a mental or physical illness.     

Cost-effectiveness of substance disorder interventions for people with severe mental illness

This study examines the cost effectiveness of three intervention strategies for people with severe mental illness who are dually diagnosed clients in terms of service use and costs. The interventions represent three primary approaches to treating these disorders: 12-step recovery, case management, and behavioral skills training. Interim findings from the study indicate that all three approaches are reducing acute and subacute service use and increasing involvement with outpatient and case management treatments. However, both the case management and behavioral skills approaches reduce costs more than the 12-step recovery approach, although not to a statistically significant degree in the data collected thus far. Overall, the societal costs for these clients are reduced by 43% without increasing the burden on client families or on the criminal justice system.     

The use of decision models in mental health economic evaluation: challenges and opportunities

A number of reasons have been suggested for the increased use of decision-analytic modelling in assessing the cost-effectiveness of mental health interventions: (1) the need to rapidly assess the value-for-money of new pharmaceuticals; (2) the short time horizon of clinical trials in mental health; (3) the lack of head-to-head comparisons between alternative treatment strategies; and (4) the necessity to generalise the study results. As simulation exercises become more widely accepted and used to inform policy making decisions, a trend towards more sophisticated modelling structures is starting to emerge. This paper undertakes a structured critical appraisal of cost-effectiveness modelling studies, using published examples relating to available drug treatments for schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease (AD). The models identified display some methodological heterogeneity in terms of the choice of comparator, costing methodology, timeframe and perspective of the analysis, target population and model structure. The use of 'state-of-the-art' techniques, such as value-of-information analysis and probabilistic-sensitivity analysis has been somewhat limited. Health service researchers need to make sure that the best available techniques are employed to maximise the use of the information already available.