Suicidal ideation in patients with mental illness and concurrent substance use: analyses of national census data in Norway

Background Suicidal ideation may signal potential risk for future suicidal behaviors and death. We examined the prevalence of recent suicidal ideation in patients with mental illness and concurrent substance use and explored the clinical and sociodemographic factors associated with suicidal ideation in this patient subgroup, which represents a particular risk group for adverse psychiatric outcomes. Methods We used national cross-sectional census data in Norway collected from 25,525 patients in specialized mental health services. The analytic sample comprised 3,842 patients with concurrent substance use, defined as having a co-morbid substance use disorder or who reported recent regular alcohol use/occasional illicit drug use. Data included suicidal ideation measured in relation to the current treatment episode, sociodemographic characteristics and ICD-10 diagnoses. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were used to examine differential characteristics between patients with and without suicidal ideation. Results The prevalence of suicidal ideation was 25.8%. The suicidal ideation rates were particularly high for those with personality disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, and depression, and for alcohol and sedatives compared with other substances. Patients with suicidal ideation were characterized by being younger, having single marital status, and having poorly perceived social relationships with family and friends. Conclusion Suicidal ideation in patients with mental illness and concurrent substance use was associated with a number of distinct characteristics. These results might help contribute to an increased focus on a subgroup of individuals at particular risk for suicidality and support suicide prevention efforts in specialized mental health services.

Determinants of timely access to Specialized Mental Health Services and maintenance of a link with primary care: a cross-sectional study

Background Although access to specialized services is one of the main components of the study of paths to mental health care worldwide, the factors related to the continuity of the patient’s link with Primary Care after admission to a Specialized Mental Health Services still need to be explored in greater depth. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the determinants of timely access to Specialized Mental Health Services (outcome 1) and maintenance of a link with Primary Care after patients’ admission (outcome 2). Methods This is a cross-sectional study, conducted with 341 users of Specialized Mental Health Services at outpatient and community level in a medium-sized city in Brazil between August and November 2019. Associations between the outcomes and the other variables were explored with the use of Poisson regression models with robust variance estimators. Results Factors positively associated with timely access were the diagnosis of psychosis or psychoactive substance misuse. The inversely associated factors with this outcome were higher income, having their need for mental health care identified in an appointment for general complaints, having been referred to the current service by Primary Care, having attended the current service for up to 3 years and delay until the first appointment (in a previous service). Regarding the maintenance of a link with Primary Care, factors positively associated were being referred to the current service by Primary Care or private service and receiving visits from Community Health Agents. The inversely associated factors with this outcome were male sex, being employed, having a diagnosis of psychosis or psychoactive substance misuse, and a greater perception of social support. Conclusions In addition to individual factors, factors related to the organization of services and the referral between them stood out in influencing both the access and maintenance of the patients’ link with Primary Care. Thus, this study reinforces the idea that integration between Primary Care and Specialized Mental Health Services should be strengthened, both to reduce waiting times for between-service referrals and benefit of care continuity.

An explorative study of factors associated with treatment in specialized mental health care centers among GP patients in Norway

Background Effectiveness and efficiency are part of the quality of care for mental health problems, and treatment should thus be performed at the right level of care. Norwegian guidelines specify which patients should be given priority for treatment in specialized mental health care (SMHC) centers, but there is a lack of agreement on which patients should actually receive SMHC. In this study we wanted to examine what factors (patient and GP characteristics) were related to GP patients who received treatment in SMHC centers. Methods In this retrospective cohort study, we looked at 12 months of data from electronic health records from six GP and SMHC centers of hospitals in the catchment area. We included all patients who had been treated at any of the GP centers during the 12-month period (N=18032). We fit a generalized linear mixed model to explore which factors were related to patients receiving treatment in SMHC centers. Further exploration was performed to study the effects of gender and contact frequency. Results We found that 4.6% of all GP patients and 18.4% of the GP patients with a mental health problems were treated in SMHC centers. There were more women than men among the GP-patients (56% vs 44%) and in SMHC centers (55% vs 45%), women with mental health problems were more severely ill than men. However, after adjusting for other factors men were more likely to be treated in SMHC centers (OR: 1.44). Patients with frequent GP contact were more likely to be treated in SMHC centers. The GP characteristics age, gender and specialization did not relate to patients receiving treatment in SMHC centers. Conclusions Men were more likely to be treated in SMHC centers than women, which may imply that they have different thresholds for entering SMHC centers. GP characteristics were not related to receiving treatment in SMHC centers. More specific knowledge is needed to determine whether men and women currently receive treatment at the lowest possible level of care.

Mental health crisis and spatial accessibility to mental health services in the city of Toronto: A geographic study

Mental illness includes a wide range of disorders that affect mood, thinking, behaviour and overall wellbeing. One in five Canadians has mental health care needs, many of which are unmet. Within the City of Toronto, the provision of specialized mental health care is delivered by over 100 public and private community service organisations and over 700 physicians with a psychiatric specialization - each providing community-based general or specialised care to residents in need. Research has shown that travel distance is an enabling factor of health service utilisation, thus equitable spatial access to services remains a key priority. Using spatial quantitative methods, this study examines potential spatial accessibility to both general and specialized mental health services within the City of Toronto, and levels of statistical association between access to care and prevalence of mental health crisis events. The main datasets analyzed including geo-referenced Census data and occurrence data on mental health crisis (represented by apprehensions under the Mental Health Act undertaken by the Toronto Police Service). The enhanced two-step floating catchment area (E2SFCA) method is used to model spatial accessibility to mental health services based four modes of transportation: driving, walking, cycling and public transit. Areas that are underserved by mental health specialists and mental health community services are identified and shown to have different socioeconomic characteristics. The study reveals spatially explicit patterns of access to various mental health services in Toronto, providing detailed data to inform the planning of and policy on mental health care delivery concerning severe mental health crisis.

The Added Burden of Personality Disorder on Subsidized Australian Health Service Utilization Among Women With Mental State Disorder

This study aimed to investigate health service utilization among women with mental state disorder only (MSD-PD), mental state disorder plus personality disorder (MSD+PD), and controls in a population-based sample. Women (n = 635) from the Geelong Osteoporosis Study completed mental health assessments and were categorized into groups (MSD-PD, MSD+PD, controls). General practitioner (mental and non-mental health encounters) and specialized mental health service utilization was ascertained from data linkage to the Medicare Benefits Schedule, Australia (01/09/2008-31/12/2012). Negative binomial and binary logistic regression models were employed to assess health service utilization differences between groups. Results indicated that women with MSD+PD had more encounters of non-mental health service utilization than women with MSD-PD and controls. Age significantly modified these relationships: women with MSD+PD and MSD-PD had more encounters of health service utilization at midlife and in the seventh decade of life. No significant differences were found in the frequency of general practitioner mental health service utilization or specialized mental health service utilization between groups. These data suggest that the presence of co-occurring PD is associated with increased health service utilization among women with other common mental health problems. Healthcare providers should be vigilant to the presence of PD when establishing management plans with patients presenting with common mental health problems.

Determinants of timely access to Specialized Mental Health Services and maintenance of a link with Primary Care: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Although it is known that several factors may influence the access to specialized care, the factors related to the maintenance of a link with Primary Care by patients who accessed Specialized Mental Health Services (SMHS) remain unknown. The aim of this study was to evaluate the determinants of timely access to SMHS and maintenance of a link with Primary Care. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study, conducted with 341 users of SMHS at outpatient and community level in a medium-sized city in Brazil. Associations between the outcomes and the other variables were explored with the use of Poisson regression models with robust variance estimators. Results: Among the factors associated with the study outcomes, those related to the organization of services and the movement between them were noteworthy. Patients referred by Primary Care were less likely to access specialized services in a timely manner (RR: 0.61; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.93). However, the referral of cases by Primary Care (RR: 1.38; 95% CI: 1.06, 1.79) and follow-up with visits by Community Health Agents (RR: 1.26; 95% CI: 1.04, 1.53) appeared to favor maintenance of the patient-Primary Care link. Conclusion: This study reinforces the idea that integration between Primary Care and SMHS should be strengthened, both to reduce waiting times for between-service referrals and benefit continuity of care.

Factors of Specialized Mental Health Care Use in the Netherlands: A Scoping Review Applying Andersen-Newman’s Care Utilization Model

As mental disorders impact quality of life and result in high costs for society, it is important patients receive timely and adequate care. This scoping review first aims to summarize which factors contribute to specialized mental health care (SMHC) use. Within the Dutch health care system, the general practitioner (GP) is the filter for SMHC and care use costs are relatively low. Second, to organize factors by Andersen and Newman’s care utilization model in illness level, predisposing, and enabling factors. Third, to assess equity of access to SMHC in the Netherlands. A health care system is equitable when illness level and the demographic predisposing factors age and gender account for most variation in care use and inequitable when enabling factors and social predisposing factors such as education predominate. We identified 13 cross-sectional and cohort studies in the Netherlands published between 1970 and September 2020 with 20 assessed factors. Illness level factors, disease severity, diagnosis, personality, and comorbidity contributed the most to SMHC use. Predisposing factors related to a more solitary lifestyle contributed to a lesser degree. Enabling factors income and urbanicity contributed the least to SMHC use. These results imply inequity. Factors that did not fit the care utilization model were GP related, for example the ability to recognize mental disorders. This emphasizes their importance in a system where patients are dependent on GPs for access to SMHC. Focus should be on improving recognition of mental disorders by GPs as well as collaboration with mental health care professionals.

Do Parental Education-Related Inequality Matter in Child and Adolescent Utilization of Mental Health Services: Results From a Norwegian Register Linkage Study

Equitable access to health care point to equal access to care for those with equal needs, but pro-rich and pro-educated inequities have been documented in specialized mental health care utilization. This study aimed to investigate equity in Norwegian adolescents’ use of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) with regards to parental education levels, using a survey of 10 257 Norwegian 16- to 19-year-olds subsequently linked to CAMHS data from the Norwegian Patient Registry (n = 970 had been in contact with CAMHS). Analyses using concentration indices ( C) suggested adolescents with parents with lower education levels had more mental health problems (ie, larger need; C = −0.032, P < .001) and were more in contact with CAMHS ( C = −0.025, P < .001). Regression analysis suggested that CAMHS contact, and number of unique admissions was largely distributed according to need, but participants whose parents had basic education levels were in contact with CAMHS for slightly longer than predicted from their self-reported mental health problems, age, and sex. Results from this study suggested that contact with CAMHS was largely equitable and mostly influenced by need. There was little evidence of parental education-related inequity in access to, and use of, specialized mental health services.

Shifting to Remotely Delivered Mental Health Care: Quality Improvement in the COVID-19 Pandemic

This paper presents an organizational (ambulatory) case study of shifting mental health care from in-person to remote service delivery due to the current (COVID-19) pandemic as a rapid quality improvement initiative. Remotely delivered mental health care, particularly using synchronous video and phone, has been shown to be cost-effective, especially for rural service users. Our provincial specialized mental health clinic rapidly shifted to such remote delivery during the current pandemic. We report on processes and outputs of this rapid quality improvement initiative, which serves a purpose beyond pandemic circumstances, such as improving access to such specialized mental health care for rural and other service users at any time. In conclusion, shifting specialized mental health care from in-person to remotely delivered services as much as possible could be beneficial beyond the current pandemic. More research is needed to optimize the implementation of such a shift.