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Home Treatment for Acute Psychiatric Care

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Mental Disorders
Interventions
Other: Treatment As Usual
Other: Home treatment
Registration Number
NCT02322437
Lead Sponsor
Psychiatric Services Aargau AG
Brief Summary

This study aims to evaluate whether psychiatric home treatment is an effective and efficient alternative to acute inpatient care in mental hospitals. A one-year prevalence cohort of psychiatric patients in need of hospitalization are randomly assigned to either treatment at inpatient wards (treatment as usual) or a new care model with the additional option of treating patients at their homes by mobile care teams. The primary focus is on checking whether optional home treatment leads to a reduction of inpatient days during a two-year follow-up period. In addition, the two service models will be compared regarding treatment cost and outcomes as well as satisfaction of patients and their relatives with psychiatric care.

Furthermore, a sub-cohort of randomly chosen patients from the prevalence-cohort will be examined by a highly trained clinical assessor to test and verify the diagnoses and the clinical ratings made by the staff members of the mental hospital under routine everyday conditions.

Detailed Description

This study aims to evaluate whether psychiatric home treatment is an effective and efficient alternative to acute inpatient care in mental hospitals. A one-year prevalence cohort of psychiatric patients in need of hospitalization are randomly assigned to either treatment at inpatient wards (treatment as usual) or a new care model with the additional option of treating patients at their homes by mobile care teams. The primary focus is on checking whether optional home treatment for crisis intervention leads to a reduction of inpatient days during a two-year follow-up period. In addition, the two service models will be compared regarding treatment cost and outcomes as well as satisfaction of patients and their relatives with psychiatric care.

Furthermore, a sub-cohort of randomly chosen patients from the prevalence-cohort will be examined by a highly trained clinical assessor to test and verify the diagnoses (SCID-I and SCID-II) and the clinical ratings (HoNOS) made by the staff members of the mental hospital under routine everyday conditions.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
707
Inclusion Criteria
  • Need for acute psychiatric inpatient care
  • Residence in the canton of Aargau
  • Living within 30 minutes (by car) from the headquarters of the home treatment team
  • Health insurance with tarifsuisse
Exclusion Criteria
  • Insufficient proficiency in German
  • Main diagnosis F0 or F1 (ICD-10)
  • Patients of the forencic departement
  • Patients of the child and adolescent department

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Treatment as usualTreatment As UsualPatients in need of acute psychiatric inpatient care are treated at a mental hospital.
Home treatmentHome treatmentPatients in need of acute psychiatric inpatient care are treated at their houses by mobile treatment teams instead of treatment at mental hospitals whenever home treatment is possible and appropriate.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Number of inpatient days2 years follow-up
Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Total days in treatment (inpatient + home treatment)2 years follow-up
Direct treatment costs2 years follow-up
Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS)Intake and discharge from treatment episode (expected average of 4 weeks)

Participants will be followed for the duration of hospital stay, an expected average of 4 weeks.

Brief Symptom Checklist (BSCL)Intake and discharge from treatment episode (expected average of 4 weeks)

Participants will be followed for the duration of hospital stay, an expected average of 4 weeks.

Perceptions of Care-18Discharge from treatment episode (expected average of 4 weeks)

Participants will be assessed at discharge from hospital, after an expected average of 4 weeks.

Satisfaction of patients' relativesDischarge from treatment episode (expected average of 4 weeks)

Relatives' satisfaction will be assessed with an adapted version of the Perceptions of Care-18 questionnaire at discharge of the patients from hospital, after an expected average of 4 weeks. The proportion of satisfied relatives will be reported for both study arms.

Number of rehospitalizations per patient2 years follow-up
Number of patients with adverse events2 years follow-up

E.g. suicide or attempted suicide.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Psychiatric Services Aargau AG

🇨🇭

Brugg, Aargau, Switzerland

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