The patient experience with integrated community treatment provided in their direct neighborhood

Introduction In 2016 a new form of integrated community treatment for patients with serious mental illnesses was implemented in two neighborhoods in the city of Utrecht (335000 inhabitants) in the Netherlands. Treatment is characterized by close collaboration of psychiatric care, somatic care (i.e. general practitioner, nurse practitioner), supported housing and other facilities, i.e. the police officer, and is provided in the direct neighborhood of the patients. This ‘neighborhood based integrated mental health care’ should not contribute solely to clinical recovery, but also specifically to social and personal recovery. Objectives The aim of this research was to investigate the experience of patients with serious mental illnesses themselves receiving this new form of neighborhood-based integrated mental health care. More specific the question is studied if and how neighborhood-based integrated mental health care supports personal and social recovery. Methods To assess the experience of patients in depth qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 patients. Patients were asked to participate in interviews directly by the researchers, by their case managers and by experts by experience. Interview topics included personal and social recovery, resilience and self-efficacy related to the collective effort of caregivers. Qualitative data was analyzed by three independent researches with the qualitative computer program Tarzan. Strategies to enhance quality of data analysis (respondent validation) and validity (attention to negative cases) were used. Results The study will be finished in January 2019. Conclusions The results, a brief description of the collaborative care methodology offered and experiences of patients, and conclusions will be presented at the ENMESH conference.