Assertive community treatment for elderly people with severe mental illness

BMC Psychiatry

Study Protocol

Bert-Jan Roosenschoon¹  Jolanda Stobbe²  Niels CL Mulder³  Hans Kroon⁴  Marja Depla⁵ 

[1] BavoEuropoort, Centre for Mental Health Care, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;Research Centre O3, Erasmus mc, University medical center, Department of Psychiatry, PO Box 2040 Dp-0122, 3000, Rotterdam, CA, The Netherlands;BavoEuropoort, Centre for Mental Health Care, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;Research Centre O3, Erasmus mc, University medical center, Department of Psychiatry, PO Box 2040 Dp-0122, 3000, Rotterdam, CA, The Netherlands;BavoEuropoort, Centre for Mental Health Care, Rotterdam, The Netherlands;Municipal Public Health Service, Rotterdam Rijnmond Division of Public Mental Health Care, The Netherlands;Trimbos institute, Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction, Utrecht, The Netherlands;VU University Medical Centre Amsterdam, Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine, Department of Nursing-Home Nedicine, The Netherlands;

关键词: Severe Mental Illness;    Assertive Community Treatment;    Mental Healthcare;    Daytime Activity;    Assertive Community Treatment Team;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-244X-10-84

 received in 2010-04-13, accepted in 2010-10-19,  发布年份 2010

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAdults aged 65 and older with severe mental illnesses are a growing segment of the Dutch population. Some of them have a range of serious problems and are also difficult to engage. While assertive community treatment is a common model for treating difficult to engage severe mental illnesses patients, no special form of it is available for the elderly. A special assertive community treatment team for the elderly is developed in Rotterdam, the Netherlands and tested for its effectiveness.MethodsWe will use a randomized controlled trial design to compare the effects of assertive community treatment for the elderly with those of care as usual. Primary outcome measures will be the number of dropouts, the number of patients engaged in care and patient's psychiatric symptoms, somatic symptoms, and social functioning. Secondary outcome measures are the number of unmet needs, the subjective quality of life and patients' satisfaction. Other secondary outcomes include the number of crisis contacts, rates of voluntary and involuntary admission, and length of stay. Inclusion criteria are aged 65 plus, the presence of a mental disorder, a lack of motivation for treatment and at least four suspected problems with functioning (addiction, somatic problems, daily living activities, housing etc.). If patients meet the inclusion criteria, they will be randomly allocated to either assertive community treatment for the elderly or care as usual. Trained assessors will use mainly observational instruments at the following time points: at baseline, after 9 and 18 months.DiscussionThis study will help establish whether assertive community treatment for the elderly produces better results than care as usual in elderly people with severe mental illnesses who are difficult to engage. When assertive community treatment for the elderly proves valuable in these respects, it can be tested and implemented more widely, and mechanisms for its effects investigated.Trial RegistrationThe Netherlands National Trial Register NTR1620

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© Stobbe et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2010