Authors | Country | Study design (duration) | Setting | Intervention | Control | Study population | Outcomes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Barr et al. [26] | England | Observational study (3 years) | Six general practices (one randomly selected practice from each health locality in an English health district) | Community mental health nurse contact with patients on the severe and enduring mental illness registers of included general practices | No contact with a community mental health nurse | N = 274 Inclusion criteria: participants with severe and enduring mental illness (SEMI), listed on the SEMI register of included general practices Exclusion criteria: not stated Mean age: 45.4 ± 12.2 years Gender: not specified Dropouts: not applicable | Admission to psychiatric hospital, frequency of community mental health nurse contacts |
England | Randomised controlled trial with two parallel arms (18 months) | Community setting within the Greenwich health authority | Community support team (comprising three community psychiatric nurses (CPNs), a team leader and four unqualified mental health workers). Each CPN acted as a care manager/client advocate. [None of the unqualified mental health workers provided services to the research group of 41 clients.] | Generic team (comprising six generic CPNs who worked independently, but were often attached to GP practices). | N = 82 Inclusion criteria: patients with a psychotic disorder (schizophrenia or affective psychosis) lasting more than 2 years, at least 2 hospital admissions in the previous 2 years, aged 18–64 years, living in the Greenwich health district Exclusion criteria: patients with primary organic disorders Mean age: 37 ± 11 years Gender: 56.1% male Dropouts: 10 (24%) patients in the intervention group and 14 (34%) patients in the control group dropped out, for the following reasons: 20 refused to participate, 2 moved away, 1 could not be found and 1 was in prison | Health service use, Global Adjustment Scale, Present State Examination, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, Social Adjustment Scale, patient and carer satisfaction, health service costs, accommodation costs, community psychiatric nurse costs |