Integration of Refugees Into Public Mental Health Care

NCT04832035 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: Refugee Integration 2021
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 120
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

There are specific barriers to utilise psychotherapeutic services for refugees with mental health problems in the German public health care system. This study aims to evaluate additional organisational components that are hypothesised to improve service utilisation. In a randomised controlled trial, refugees with mental health problems are identified by peers, subsequently assessed by professional staff and referred to public psychotherapeutic health services who offer standard care. Participants are assigned to care as usual or to "coordinated and peer supported mental health care"; the latter includes several additional organisational assistance components, i.e. a coordination center, trained peers to support treatment utilisation, a support and training center for therapists, and a interpreter pool. Measures include service utilisation and symptom change after 6 months. Furthermore the study evaluates whether trained peers can correctly identify participants with mental health problems.

Conditions

Psychiatric Disorders From Chapters 3 and 4 of ICD10

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

• Service utilisation

  Percentage of participants who utilise psychotherapeutic services

  6 months after study inclusion

• Psychiatric symptom change

  Self-report of psychiatric symptoms by means of questionnaires

  assessments 6 and 12 months after study inclusion

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Percentage correctly identified refugees with mental health problems

  two weeks

Study Arms (2)

Standard psychotherapeutic care + coordinated and peer supported mental health care"

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants receive standard psychotherapeutic care in the public healthcare system. For participants and therapists in this group standard care and additional organisational support is available which is labeled "coordinated and peer supported mental health care". This includes several additional organisational assistance components that are currently not part of the services of the public mental health care system, i.e. a coordination center, trained peers to support treatment utilisation, a support and training center for therapists, and an interpreter pool.This is Treatment as Usual plus coordination and peer support.

Other: "coordinated and peer supported mental health care"; Behavioral: "standard psychotherapeutic care in the public healthcare system"

Standard psychotherapeutic care"

OTHER

Participants receive standard psychotherapeutic care in the public healthcare system. For participants in this group no additional organisational support is available. This is Treatment as Usual.

Behavioral: "standard psychotherapeutic care in the public healthcare system"

Interventions

"coordinated and peer supported mental health care" OTHER

Health services, coordination of services, method to support utilization

Standard psychotherapeutic care + coordinated and peer supported mental health care"

"standard psychotherapeutic care in the public healthcare system" BEHAVIORAL

Psychotherapeutic services that are financed by the public health insurance system.

Standard psychotherapeutic care + coordinated and peer supported mental health care"; Standard psychotherapeutic care"

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 70 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Psychiatric diagnosis from Chapters 3 and 4 of ICD10
• Participant applied for asylum in Germany
• Entry to Germany after 2012
• Participants is motivated to utilise psychotherapeutic services
• Patient speaks one of the languages in which services are offered (i.e. German, English, French, Arabic, Kurdish, Dari, Farsi, Urdu, Pashto, Tirginya, Somali)

You may not qualify if:

• Mental disorder that requires inpatient treatment

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Konstanz: lead
• Vivo international e.V.: collaborator

Study Sites (1)

University of Konstanz, Psychotherapy Outpatient Clinic

Konstanz, 78464, Germany

RECRUITING

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: CEO psychotherapeutic outpatient clinic, leading psychologist research ward

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: April 1, 2021
• First Posted: April 5, 2021
• Study Start: April 1, 2021
• Primary Completion: December 31, 2023
• Study Completion: June 30, 2024
• Last Updated: April 9, 2021

Record last verified: 2021-04

Locations

DE (1)