Developing an integrated psychiatry and social service: a Swedish perspective

The speech will be about what hindrances and facilitating factors can be observed in the process of developing integrated services for persons with severe mental illnesses. The limits of governmental authorities' abilities to make services providers to co-operate and practice evidence based methods are highlighted. Evidence exists that point to that an integrated approach is more efficient compared to separate service options. The examples are drawn from Sweden, a nation where services mainly are parts of the public sector

The Life Situation of People with Persistent Mental Illness Visiting Day Centers: a Comparative Study.

This study compared the life situation of visitors of day centers (DC) for people with mental illness (N = 93) with a comparison group (N = 82) in respect of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, care consumption, well-being and everyday activities. The response rate was 49%, and those who declined are believed to be those with the most severe psychiatric disabilities. Most individuals were single (81%/78%) and few had children (12%/18%). The DC group had less education than the comparison group but had a friend more often. Although having their need for daily activities met, the DC group had greater unmet needs in respect of daily living in general. They less frequently reported having a psychosis and had fewer negative and more depressive symptoms. They got more housing support and general outpatient care, while the comparison group used specialized psychiatric care more frequently. The samples were equally satisfied with their care, health and well-being and found their everyday activities equally meaningful. The DC visitors formed a vulnerable group, by living single, having a low level of education and having unmet needs, and were at risk of not getting specialized psychiatric care

Effectiveness of an intervention to improve day centre services for people with psychiatric disabilities.

Day centres for people with psychiatric disabilities need to be evaluated for effectiveness in order to provide the best possible support. This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of a tailor-made intervention to improve day centre services for people with psychiatric disabilities

Measuring perceived meaningfulness in day centres for persons with mental illness

Rationale: As support in leading a meaningful and active life, a person with mental illness is often given the opportunity to attend a day centre. However, few studies have investigated the meaningfulness perceived by the person visiting a day centre. For such a purpose, a self-report instrument was developed. Aims: To explore whether perceived meaningfulness, as expressed in the recently developed instrument Evaluation of Perceived Meaning in Day Centers (EPM-DC), could be viewed as one dimension and also to investigate the psychometric properties of this instrument. Methods: Persons with mental illness attending five day centres in Sweden participated and completed the questionnaire. The data were analysed by Rasch analysis. Major findings: The study showed that the concept captured in the instrument could be viewed as unidimensional and the result gave preliminary evidence for sound psychometric properties. Principal conclusion: The results indicate promising signs of validity and reliability, but the suitability of self-reporting may be questioned

Freedom of choice or cost efficiency? The implementation of a free-choice market system in community mental health services in Sweden

This case study investigates the implementation of a free-choice market system in community mental health services using the example of day centres for people with psychiatric disabilities. It was conducted in a major city that was about to implement a free-choice market system due to a new legislation that made it feasible. Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted. Agents situated in different parts of the organization were interviewed one year before and two years after the free-choice system was launched in 2010. Data showed a top–down political process. A majority of the intentions of the legislation advocated individual autonomy as the market system's main purpose; only one concerned organizational efficiency. Data reflected, however, that financial efficiency dominated the agents' experiences of the implemented system. The twofold market purpose was clearly reflected in the interviews. Front-line staff hoped for improvements mainly for the users, whereas managers mainly focused on the market as a resource allocator

Work experiences among attendees of day centres for people with psychiatric disabilities.

It is possible that people with psychiatric disabilities who visit day centres have previous work experiences that may be seen as resources for their current engagement in day centre activities. Research in this respect seems to lack, however