The challenge of integrated care for mental health: leaving the 50 minute hour and other sacred things.

A growing body of research has demonstrated the effectiveness of integrating mental/behavioral healthcare with primary care in improving health outcomes. Despite this rich literature, such demonstration programs have proven difficult to maintain once research funding ends. Much of the discussion regarding maintenance of integrated care has been focused on lack of reimbursement. However, provider factors may be just as important, because integrated care systems require providers to adopt a very different role and operate very differently from traditional mental health practice. There is also great variability in definition and operationalization of integrated care. Provider concerns tend to focus on several factors, including a perceived loss of autonomy, discomfort with the hierarchical nature of medical care and primary care settings, and enduring beliefs about what constitutes "good" treatment. Providers may view integrated care models as delivering substandard care and passively or actively resist them. Dissemination of available data regarding effectiveness of these models is essential (e.g. timeliness of treatment, client satisfaction). Increasing exposure and training in these models, while maintaining the necessary training in traditional mental health care is a challenge for training at all levels, yet the challenge clearly opens new opportunities for psychology and psychiatry.

The Dartmouth Pain Questionnaire: an adjunct to the McGill Pain Questionnaire.

The Dartmouth Pain Questionnaire is presented as an adjunct to the McGill Pain Questionnaire. It adds assessment of 4 objective measurements (pain complaints, somatic interventions, impaired functioning, and remaining positive aspects of function) and 1 subjective measure (changes in self-esteem since onset of pain). The entire device fits on one piece of paper and patients easily learn to self-administer it. Standardization results show acceptable levels of reliability and validity.