Symptoms, circumstances, and service systems: Pathways to psychiatric crisis service use among uninsured young adults

Review: Crisis responses for children and young people - a systematic review of effectiveness, experiences and service organisation (CAMH-Crisis)

BACKGROUND

In England, one in six children aged 5-19 has a probable diagnosable mental health disorder. This is a major public health problem, with multiple agencies adopting varying approaches to care delivery for children and young people (CYP) in crisis.

OBJECTIVES

To examine the organisation of crisis services across education, health, social care and voluntary sectors; the experiences and perceptions of CYP, families and staff; the effectiveness of current approaches to care and the goals of crisis intervention.

METHODS

A systematic review of all relevant English language evidence regarding the provision and receipt of crisis support for CYP aged 5-25 (PROSPERO-CRD42019160134). Seventeen databases were searched from 1995 to 2021 and relevant UK-only grey literature was identified. Critical appraisal was conducted using appropriate design specific appraisal tools. A narrative approach to synthesis was conducted.

RESULTS

In total, 138 reports (48 reports covering 42 primary research studies; 36 reports covering 39 descriptive accounts of the organisation services and 54 UK-only grey literature reports) were included. The evidence suggests that crisis services were organised as follows: triage/assessment-only, digitally mediated support approaches, and intervention approaches and models. When looking at experiences of crisis care, four themes were identified: (a) barriers and facilitators to seeking and accessing appropriate support; (b) what children and young people want from crisis services; (c) children's, young people's and families' experiences of crisis services; and (d) service provision. In determining effectiveness, the findings are summarised by type of service and were generated from single heterogenous studies. The goals of crisis services were identified.

DISCUSSION

Despite a lack of high-quality international studies, findings suggest that support prior to reaching crisis point is important. From this work, various aspects of crisis care have been identified that can be incorporated into existing services across education, health, social care and the voluntary sector.

Lived Experiences of Persons with Chronic Schizophrenia Living in the Community

Background

Each individual with schizophrenia experiences life uniquely, despite the sameness in their diagnosis. Understanding their experiences is vital for their better community integration and social work practice.

Method

We used the interpretative phenomenological approach. Persons with schizophrenia seeking outpatient services at a tertiary care institute in Bengaluru, India, were recruited through purposive sampling. In-depth interviews were conducted with six participants.

Results

Some of the meta-themes and subthemes identified were as follows: (a) perception about self (struggling with the sense of self, desire for normalcy, wanting to be in control of self and desire to live independently), (b) relationship with others (feeling supported by others and feeling rejected by others), (c) coping with consequences of illness (coping with disruptions in personal life and coping with disruptions in family life), and (d) experience of seeking treatment (reasons for seeking treatment, being on medication, and behavior of mental health professionals). The participants tried to find meaning in their lives by making sense of their illness. Family and community can have a significant impact on how persons with schizophrenia perceive their lives.

Conclusion

Mental health professionals need to encourage persons' and their families' greater participation in treatment planning and clinical interventions, which will enhance persons integration within the community and will help decrease the feeling of isolation commonly experienced when one lives with chronic mental illnesses.

Investigating the impact of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization on youth and young adult trust and help-seeking in pathways to care

PURPOSE

Few studies have focused on the experience of involuntary psychiatric hospitalization among youth, especially the impact of these experiences on engagement with mental health services post-discharge. In this study, we contribute to a deeper understanding of youth experiences of involuntary hospitalization (IH) and its subsequent impacts on trust, help-seeking, and engagement with clinicians.

METHODS

The study utilized a grounded theory approach, conducting in-depth interviews with 40 youth and young adults (ages 16-27) who had experienced at least one prior involuntary hospitalization.

RESULTS

Three quarters of the youth reported negative impacts of IH on trust, including unwillingness to disclose suicidal feelings or intentions. Selective non-disclosure of suicidal feelings was reported even in instances in which the participant continued to meet with providers following discharge. Factors identified as contributing to distrust included perceptions of inpatient treatment as more punitive than therapeutic, staff as more judgmental than empathetic, and hospitalization overall failing to meet therapeutic needs. Conversely, participants reporting more mixed experiences of hospitalization and simultaneously strong indirect benefits, including greater family support, diminished family judgement members and greater access to care.

CONCLUSION

Findings draw attention to the ways in which coercive experiences may impact youth pathways to and through care. Additional research is needed to understand the impact of these experiences across larger samples, and their influence on downstream outcomes including engagement and long-term wellbeing. Finally, these data may inform the development and testing of inpatient and post-discharge interventions designed to mitigate potential harm.

Experiences of pathways to mental health services for young people and their carers: a qualitative meta-synthesis review

Worldwide, growing concern with young people's mental health is spurring service reform efforts. Such reform requires a full understanding of the experiences of young people and their carers when seeking mental health help. To generate such an understanding, we conducted a meta-synthesis of qualitative literature on the perspectives of youths and their carers on navigating mental health systems. Five electronic databases were searched (Medline, PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, HealthSTAR). Studies were included if they explored the experiences of pathways to mental health services of persons aged 11-30 years and/or their carers; were published in English or French; and used qualitative methodology. Quality appraisal was conducted using the CASP tool. The synthesis of 31 included studies yielded three themes-initiating contact with mental health services; characteristics of services' response; and youths' and carers' appraisal of services. Themes about initiating contact included mental health literacy, structural barriers, and social support. Service response-related themes included complex pathways, waitlists, eligibility, and fragmented care. In terms of service appraisal, positive encounters featured providers who were accessible and perceived as caring. Negative appraisals resulted from feeling misunderstood and excluded and being ill-informed about treatment. Across diagnoses and settings, youths and carers had difficult experiences accessing mental healthcare. While individual, social, and healthcare factors shaping pathways to care varied, systemic complexities were a common inhibitor. This synthesis informs recommendations for improving mental health services and youths' pathways to them. It underlines the need for grounding reform in youths' and carers' perspectives and needs.

A Method to Compare the Delivery of Psychiatric Care for People with Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia

INTRODUCTION

Community services are gaining ground when it comes to attention to patients with psychiatric diseases. Regarding patients with treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS), the use of information and communication technology (ICT) could help to shift the focus from hospital-centered attention to community services. This study compares the differences in mental health services provided for patients with TRS in Budapest (Hungary), Tel-Aviv (Israel) and Catalonia (Spain) by means of a method for the quick appraisal of gaps among the three places, for a potential implementation of the same ICT tool in these regions.

METHODS

An adapted version of the Description and Standardised Evaluation of Services and Directories in Europe for Long Term Care (DESDE-LTC) instrument was made by researchers in Semmelweis University (Budapest, Hungary), Gertner Institute (Tel-Aviv, Israel) and Hospital de la Santa Creu I Sant Pau and Parc Sanitari Sant Joan de Déu (Catalonia, Spain).

RESULTS

Two types of outpatient care services were available in the three regions. Only one type of day-care facility was common in the whole study area. Two residential care services, one for acute and the other for non-acute patients were available in every region. Finally, two self-care and volunteer-care facilities were available in the three places.

CONCLUSION

Although the availability of services was different in each region, most of the services provided were sufficiently similar to allow the implementation of the same ICT solution in the three places.