PMID- 24313930
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20140508
LR  - 20220317
IS  - 1471-244X (Electronic)
IS  - 1471-244X (Linking)
VI  - 13
DP  - 2013 Dec 6
TI  - A follow-up on patients with severe mental disorders in Sardinia after two 
      changes in regional policies: poor resources still correlate with poor outcomes.
PG  - 333
LID - 10.1186/1471-244X-13-333 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: This survey followed a cohort of patients with chronic psychosis 
      recruited from five catchment areas (DSMs) of the Sardinian community mental 
      health services. The objective was to examine whether the amount of resources in 
      the different sites may be a determinant of the outcomes. METHODS: Naturalistic 
      follow-up study on 309 consecutive users with diagnosis of schizophrenic 
      disorder, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar affective disorder with psychotic 
      symptoms (DSM-IV TR) of five Sardinian community mental health services. Mental 
      state and clinical symptoms along with functioning were assessed using 
      semi-structured clinical interviews (ANTAS), Clinical Global Impression Severity 
      Scale (CGI-S), Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF) and Health of the 
      Nation Outcome Scales (HONOS). Assessments were conducted at the beginning of the 
      study and after one year. RESULTS: The proportion of professionals working in all 
      DSMs participating in the study was found lower than the national Italian 
      standard (0.7 vs. 1.0 per 1,500 inhabitants). Follow-up revealed significant 
      differences between DSMs in the improvement of the Honos scores (F = 5.932, 
      p = 0.000). These differences correlate with the improvement of resources in 
      terms of number of professionals during, and one year prior, to the trial. 
      CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that mental health services provided in the public 
      sector in Sardinia are still very resource-poor, at least in terms of human 
      resources. Our findings suggest that mental health service resources influence 
      outcomes as regards the social functioning of users. We urge policy makers to 
      take these observations into account when planning future services.
FAU - Carta, Mauro Giovanni
AU  - Carta MG
AD  - Department of Public Health, Clinical and Molecular Medicine, University of 
      Cagliari, via Ospedale, 117 Cagliari, Italy. mgcarta@tiscali.it.
FAU - Angermeyer, Matthias C
AU  - Angermeyer MC
FAU - Sancassiani, Federica
AU  - Sancassiani F
FAU - Tuligi, Francesco
AU  - Tuligi F
FAU - Pirastu, Roberto
AU  - Pirastu R
FAU - Pisano, Anna
AU  - Pisano A
FAU - Pintus, Elisa
AU  - Pintus E
FAU - Mellino, Gisa
AU  - Mellino G
FAU - Pintus, Mirra
AU  - Pintus M
FAU - Pisanu, Emanuele
AU  - Pisanu E
FAU - Moro, Maria Francesca
AU  - Moro MF
FAU - Massidda, Davide
AU  - Massidda D
FAU - Trincas, Giuseppina
AU  - Trincas G
FAU - Bhugra, Dinesh
AU  - Bhugra D
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20131206
PL  - England
TA  - BMC Psychiatry
JT  - BMC psychiatry
JID - 100968559
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - *Community Mental Health Services
MH  - Female
MH  - Follow-Up Studies
MH  - *Health Policy
MH  - *Health Resources
MH  - *Health Services Needs and Demand
MH  - Humans
MH  - Italy
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Psychotic Disorders/*therapy
MH  - Treatment Outcome
PMC - PMC4029176
EDAT- 2013/12/10 06:00
MHDA- 2014/05/09 06:00
PMCR- 2013/12/06
CRDT- 2013/12/10 06:00
PHST- 2013/06/27 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/12/02 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/12/10 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/12/10 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2014/05/09 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2013/12/06 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - 1471-244X-13-333 [pii]
AID - 10.1186/1471-244X-13-333 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - BMC Psychiatry. 2013 Dec 6;13:333. doi: 10.1186/1471-244X-13-333.