SUPPORT

"Systematic support of general practitioners in the care of people with mental illness - early detection and therapy"

The majority of people suffering from a mental disorder receive care in a family doctor's office. In order for family doctors to make timely and appropriate referrals within the healthcare system to help persons in need of mental health services, it is important for family doctors to know about their community’s psychosocial support network for early detection and treatment of mental illness. In this context, the Lower Saxony Advisory Council on Psychiatry would like to initiate the development of a low-threshold concept to support family doctors. The Lower Saxony Ministry for Social Affairs, Health and Equality funded the implementation of a literature research on the topic of supporting family doctors in the early detection and treatment of mental illness.

Objectives

Two objectives are associated with the literature review:

1: The systematic literature review and evidence assessment on the question: "What support is available for general practitioners in the early detection and treatment of patients with mental illness?"

2: Evaluation of the selected projects regarding their transferability to the context of regional care in Lower Saxony.

The results of the project are to be incorporated into a position paper of the Lower Saxony State Advisory Board of Psychiatry.

Study design and Methodology

A scoping review was conducted to provide a comprehensive overview of the existing evidence on this complex topic. Several specialized databases were searched on the basis of cataloged keywords. In addition to original journal articles, we included project reports, reviews and books published in English and German from 2006 to 2020 in the assessment and analysis.

To assess the transferability of the German projects found to the health care system in Lower Saxony, a specific model for the evaluation of complex interventions in the health care sector was applied.

Results and content will be published soon.