Patient Satisfaction and Willingness to Continue with Telemental Health Care During and After the Early Period of SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: A User Survey.

Objective: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and related lockdown periods generated an increase in the use of virtual care for mental health (MH). This study aimed to assess patient satisfaction with Telemental Health services (TMH) during first lockdown and factors related to their willingness to continue using this service. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 364 MH outpatients from 9 centers in the Barcelona region (Spain), who received TMH between April 20 and May 22, 2020. We assessed sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, prior experience, and familiarity with technologies and satisfaction with TMH. Willingness to receive TMH after the lockdown was measured separately for telephone and videoconferencing. We performed descriptive statistics and bivariate and multivariate regression models to predict TMH willingness. Results: From 450 patients contacted, 364 were interviewed. Satisfaction with TMH was high (mean 9.24, standard deviation 0.07); 2.47% preferred only TMH visits after lockdown, 23.08% preferred mostly TMH visits, 50.82% accepted some TMH visits, and 23.63% would prefer in-person consultations. Female patients and those having received TMH during lockdown showed higher odds of willingness to receive TMH in the future, while patients unfamiliar with technologies showed lower odds. Concerning TMH through telephone, willingness was more likely in patients living with more persons. Videoconferencing willingness was more likely for people living with depression. Conclusions: TMH was well accepted during the first lockdown and patients were willing to maintain it after lockdown. Low familiarity with new technologies is an important barrier to TMH willingness, which needs to be addressed for appropriate implementation going forward.

Evaluation of adherence to antipsychotics: A real-world data study using four different dosing assumptions.

AIMS: This study aimed to assess the frequency of dosing inconsistencies in prescription data and the effect of four dosing assumption strategies on adherence estimates for antipsychotic treatment. METHODS: A retrospective cohort, which linked prescription and dispensing data of adult patients with ≥1 antipsychotic prescription between 2015-2016 and followed up until 2019, in Catalonia (Spain). Four strategies were proposed for selecting the recommended dosing in overlapping prescription periods for the same patient and antipsychotic drug: (i) the minimum dosing prescribed; (ii) the dose corresponding to the latest prescription issued; (iii) the highest dosing prescribed; and (iv) all doses included in the overlapped period. For each strategy, one treatment episode per patient was selected, and the Continuous Medication Availability measure was used to assess adherence. Descriptive statistics were used to describe results by strategy. RESULTS: Of the 277 324 prescriptions included, 76% overlapped with other prescriptions (40% with different recommended dosing instructions). The number and characteristics of patients and treatment episodes (18 292, 18 303, 18 339 and 18 536, respectively per strategy) were similar across strategies. Mean adherence was similar between strategies, ranging from 57 to 60%. However, the proportion of patients with adherence ≥90% was lower when selecting all doses (28%) compared with the other strategies (35%). CONCLUSION: Despite the high prevalence of overlapping prescriptions, the strategies proposed did not show a major effect on the adherence estimates for antipsychotic treatment. Taking into consideration the particularities of antipsychotic prescription practices, selecting the highest dose in the overlapped period seemed to provide a more accurate adherence estimate.

Spirituality, Religiosity and Mental Health: A Clinical-care Approach.

No abstract present.

Is epilepsy related to psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disability? A systematic review.

The prevalence of psychiatric disorders in people with Intellectual Disability (ID) is statistically higher than in the general population. There is a lack of consensus on the role that epilepsy plays in psychiatric disorders in people with ID. We carried out a systematic review of articles published between 1960 and 2022, focusing on high-quality, case-control original research studies that only included adult populations. The primary outcome was the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disability with and without epilepsy. Six articles were finally included. Results were varied; some reported a statistical increase, whereas others did not find any statistical difference. Due to the current controversy on the role of epilepsy in psychiatric disorders in people with ID and the small number of publications on the topic, we cannot affirm a relationship between epilepsy and psychiatric disorders in people with ID.

Trastorno pica como síntoma depresivo en un paciente con trastorno bipolar y discapacidad intelectual / Pica disorder as a symptom of depression in a patient with bipolar disorder and intellectual disability

No disponible

Underdiagnosis of psychiatric disorders in people with intellectual disabilities: Differences between psychiatric disorders and challenging behaviour.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to assess the level of mental disorders and challenging behaviour in individuals with intellectual disability (ID) supported by specialized services, but without a prior psychiatric diagnosis, and to compare the levels of different disorders depending on the severity of ID. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study (N = 142) of population with ID. Inclusion criteria were the following: adult patients with ID and with no previous psychiatric diagnosis prior to this survey. The Wechsler Adults Intelligence Scale-II, the Psychiatric Assessment Schedule for Adults with Developmental Disability checklist and clinical interview, the Diagnostic Assessment for the Severely Handicapped scale and the Inventory for Client and Agency Planning were the assessment tools. RESULTS: A previously undiagnosed mental disorder was found in 29.6% of the sample. The most prevalent mental disorders were major depressive and anxiety disorders. An association between psychiatric comorbidity and challenging behaviour was found only for mild/moderate ID, especially for affective disorders. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of a psychiatric as well as a medical comorbidity is associated with severe ID, unlike challenging behaviour. Clinical limitations of the study have been discussed.