IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socpsy/v59y2013i7p663-670.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Continuity of care for carers of people with severe mental illness: Results of a longitudinal study

Author

Listed:
  • Tom Burns
  • Jocelyn Catty
  • Kate Harvey
  • Sarah White
  • Ian Rees Jones
  • Susan McLaren
  • Til Wykes

Abstract

Introduction: Continuity of care has been demonstrated to be important for service users and carer groups have voiced major concerns over disruptions of care. We aimed to assess the experienced continuity of care in carers of patients with both psychotic and non-psychotic disorders and explore its association with carer characteristics and psychological well-being. Methods: Friends and relatives caring for two groups of service users in the care of community mental health teams (CMHTs), 69 with psychotic and 38 with non-psychotic disorders, were assessed annually at three and two time points, respectively. CONTINUES, a measure specifically designed to assess continuity of care for carers themselves, was utilized along with assessments of psychological well-being and caregiving. Results: One hundred and seven carers participated. They reported moderately low continuity of care. Only 22 had had a carer’s assessment and just under a third recorded psychological distress on the GHQ. For those caring for people with psychotic disorders, reported continuity was higher if the carer was male, employed, lived with the user and had had a carer’s assessment; for those caring for people with non-psychotic disorders, it was higher if the carer was from the service user’s immediate family, lived with them and had had a carer’s assessment. Conclusion: The vast majority of the carers had not had a carer’s assessment provided by the CMHT despite this being a clear national priority and being an intervention with obvious potential to increase carers’ reported low levels of continuity of care. Improving continuity of contact with carers may have an important part to play in the overall improvement of care in this patient group and deserves greater attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Tom Burns & Jocelyn Catty & Kate Harvey & Sarah White & Ian Rees Jones & Susan McLaren & Til Wykes, 2013. "Continuity of care for carers of people with severe mental illness: Results of a longitudinal study," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(7), pages 663-670, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:59:y:2013:i:7:p:663-670
    DOI: 10.1177/0020764012450996
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0020764012450996
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0020764012450996?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jones, Ian Rees & Ahmed, Nilufar & Catty, Jocelyn & McLaren, Susan & Rose, Diana & Wykes, Til & Burns, Tom, 2009. "Illness careers and continuity of care in mental health services: A qualitative study of service users and carers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 632-639, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jocelyn Catty & Sarah White & Sarah Clement & Naomi Cowan & Connie Geyer & Kate Harvey & Ian Rees Jones & Susan McLaren & Zoe Poole & Diana Rose & Til Wykes & Tom Burns, 2013. "Continuity of care for people with psychotic illness: Its relationship to clinical and social functioning," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 59(1), pages 5-17, February.
    2. Verbeke, Evi & Vanheule, Stijn & Cauwe, Joachim & Truijens, Femke & Froyen, Brenda, 2019. "Coercion and power in psychiatry: A qualitative study with ex-patients," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 223(C), pages 89-96.
    3. Norvoll, Reidun & Pedersen, Reidar, 2016. "Exploring the views of people with mental health problems' on the concept of coercion: Towards a broader socio-ethical perspective," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 204-211.
    4. Nicaise, Pablo & Giacco, Domenico & Soltmann, Bettina & Pfennig, Andrea & Miglietta, Elisabetta & Lasalvia, Antonio & Welbel, Marta & Wciórka, Jacek & Bird, Victoria Jane & Priebe, Stefan & Lorant, Vi, 2020. "Healthcare system performance in continuity of care for patients with severe mental illness: A comparison of five European countries," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 25-36.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socpsy:v:59:y:2013:i:7:p:663-670. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.