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The impact of caregivers on the effectiveness of an early community mental health detection and intervention programme in H ong K ong
Author(s) -
Pan JiaYan,
Ng YatNam Petrus,
Young KimWan Daniel
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
early intervention in psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.087
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1751-7893
pISSN - 1751-7885
DOI - 10.1111/eip.12200
Subject(s) - mental health , intervention (counseling) , context (archaeology) , medicine , psychiatry , gerontology , mental illness , clinical psychology , psychology , paleontology , biology
Aim The prevalence rate of mental illness in C hinese communities is high, but C hinese clients tend to underutilize mental health services. Caregivers may play an important role in mental health early detection and intervention, but few studies have investigated their roles in community mental health services. This study compared the effectiveness of an early detection and intervention programme, the C ommunity M ental H ealth I ntervention P roject, for two groups in the context of H ong K ong – clients with and without caregivers. Method A comparison group pre–post‐test design was adopted. A total of 170 service users joined this study, including 100 with caregivers and 70 without caregivers. Results Both groups showed a significant decrease in psychiatric symptoms and increase in community living skills; the group without caregivers indicated a greater reduction in psychiatric symptoms. Different social work intervention components had different predictive effects on these changes. Conclusion The C ommunity M ental H ealth I ntervention P roject is an effective early detection and intervention programme in working with H ong K ong C hinese people who are suspected of having mental health problems, especially for those without caregivers.