RESEARCH WEEKLY: July Research Roundup
By Elizabeth Sinclair Hancq
Research Roundup is a monthly public service of the Office of Research and Public Affairs. Each edition describes a striking new data point about severe mental illness and summarizes recently published research reports or developments.
DATAPOINT of the month
$92,000 per year excess societal costs per person with schizophrenia
According to a new report by the Schizophrenia & Psychosis Action Alliance (previously Schizophrenia and Related Disorders Alliance of America), each individual with schizophrenia amounts $92,000 per year in excess societal costs. Included in the calculation includes direct costs such as health care, social security, housing services and criminal justice system costs as well as indirect costs including reduced wages, caregiver unpaid wages and lower quality of life.
RESEARCH of the month
Cultural competency in mental health care
Cultural competency, or the ability of an individual to understand and respect values, attitudes and beliefs that differ across different cultures, is an important tenet in mental health care. Provider cultural competency increases comfort and trust with their patients and can encourage patients to continue their care.
In an article published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association earlier this year, researchers discuss barriers and strategies for improving cultural competency in mental healthcare. Based on an analysis of published research, the authors suggest that lack of cultural competency to be a large reason why there is an underuse of mental health resources in underrepresented minority communities.
The researchers suggest that providing cultural competency training during professional schools and residencies and increasing minority representation in psychiatric services could be two potential strategies for improvement.
Racial disparities in coercive measures for people with first-episode psychosis
Black people of Caribbean or African descent experiencing a first-episode of psychosis are more likely to be coercively referred to an early intervention program, according to a new research article published this month in Psychiatric Services from researchers from Canada. In that study, coercive referral includes being brought into the program via police, ambulance or court order.
Reviewing medical records of patients referred to a first-episode psychosis program in Canada from 2008–2018, the researchers examined relationships among race-ethnicity, diagnosis of psychosis and coercive measures. In addition to Black patients being more likely to be coercively referred, they were also more likely to need a coercive intervention while in the program.
The authors conclude that structural factors may be contributing to these racial disparities in psychiatric care which must be addressed to ensure medical practices are implemented according to best practices for all people.
Role of care management for serious mental illness
Care management improves symptoms and quality of life for people with serious mental illness according to a systematic review and meta-analysis on research on the topic published in Psychiatric Services earlier this month. A total of 34 articles with 24 studies were included in the analysis, 15 of which were randomized controlled trials that were used in the meta-analysis. According to the results, care management was associated with significant improvements in psychiatric symptoms and overall quality of life while reducing inpatient psychiatric hospital days.
The authors conclude that because there is significant variety of models for care management for individuals with serious mental illness, further research is needed to identify which components of care management most impact outcomes.
