Research project DR/89 (Research action DR)
Many people who have a problematic use of drugs suffer from concomitant mental disorders, while many people with mental disorders also use drugs. Estimates of drug use among people with mental illness (MI) usually range from 20 to more than 50%. Patients with co-occurring substance-use disorders (SUD) and MI have more severe adverse outcomes than patients with either condition alone, in terms of accessibility to services, unmet needs, adherence to treatment and relapse, social integration, and personal recovery. While most patients, either using services in the specific SUD sector or using services in the generic mental health care (MHC) sector, are facing similar, complex and long-term problems, the specific SUD care sector has developed parallel to the generic MHC sector in most countries, including Belgium. Separate care sectors have added a number of complex issues to those directly related to the disorders. Nevertheless, a promising programme for addressing the common issues in both sectors and the needs of people with SUD and other mental health care needs is rooted in improved collaboration based on the personal recovery of patients. Supporters of this approach argue that co-occurring SUD and MI is the norm rather than the exception, and therefore that there is less need of specialised interventions and services than of an integrative approach encompassing all need domains, with personal recovery of patients as an overarching aim. The divide, they add, is on the side of clinician and care system practice, not on the side of patients.
Therefore, the main objective of SUMHIT is to examine and assess the place of people who use drugs in the field of mental health care, the availability of generic mental health care for people with substance-use disorders, and the capacity of both generic mental health care and specialised substance-use care sectors to collaborate within the framework of the service networks that have been established in Belgium since 2010.
The project addresses research questions at three levels of study. (1) At the level of individuals, it aims to assess the met and unmet needs of people with substance-use disorders in terms of mental health care, their actual access and use of services, both generic and specialised, and their lived experience of care pathways. (2) At the level of services, it aims to assess the experience of clinicians from the full range of generic and specialised services, in particular with people who have substance-use and other mental health care needs. It also aims to examine the availability and accessibility of care supply for such patient profiles. Finally, (3) at the level of service networks and whole care system, it aims to assess the collaboration / integration of specialised services in the generic mental health care networks and to review systemic mechanisms (in terms of funding, service provision, and governance) that may facilitate or hinder such collaboration.
The project is based on interdisciplinary, mixed methods and tools. It comprises literature reviews on healthcare system organisational mechanisms for sector’s integration and evidence-based practices of collaboration, a survey on 500 user’s met and unmet needs and care trajectories, a survey on service’s care supply around 5 networks across the country, and qualitative interviews with both users and professionals. The conceptual framework of the project allows comparison with neighbouring countries. Evidence-based policy and care recommendations will be co-constructed with stakeholders as to provide authorities and network managers with feasible solutions in order to improve the continuity of care between sectors, the tailoring of care pathways to specific profiles, and to support a global approach of patients’ personal recovery. In addition to policy, SUMHIT is expected to have a major impact on mental-health and substance-use care sectors collaboration and integration within the established service networks, as the divide between these care sectors is common to many healthcare systems, but do not respond to most patient’s needs. Eventually, improved continuity of care and personalised care are expected to raise the quality of care overall and the quality of life of patients.
Substance Use and Mental Health care InTegration: a study of service networks in mental health and substance use disorders in Belgium, their accessibility, and users’ needs (SUMHIT) : final report
Chantry, Mégane - Magerman, Jürgen - Fernandez, Kim ... et al. Brussels : Belgian Science policy, 2023 (SP3320)
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Substance Use and Mental Health care InTegration: a study of service networks in mental health and substance use disorders in Belgium, their accessibility, and users’ needs (SUMHIT) : summary-abstract
Chantry, Mégane - Magerman, Jürgen - Fernandez, Kim ... et al. Brussels : Belgian Science policy, 2023 (SP3321)
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Substance Use and Mental Health care InTegration: a study of service networks in mental health and substance use disorders in Belgium, their accessibility, and users’ needs (SUMHIT) : summary
Chantry, Mégane - Magerman, Jürgen - Fernandez, Kim ... et al. Brussels : Belgian Science policy, 2023 (SP3322)
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Substance Use and Mental Health care InTegration: Een studie van de zorgnetwerken in de geestelijke gezondheidszorg en de verslavingszorg in België, naar hun toegankelijkheid en de noden van de gebruikers (SUMHIT) : samenvatting - abstract
Chantry, Mégane - Magerman, Jürgen - Fernandez, Kim ... et al. Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid, 2023 (SP3323)
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Substance Use and Mental Health care InTegration: Een studie van de zorgnetwerken in de geestelijke gezondheidszorg en de verslavingszorg in België, naar hun toegankelijkheid en de noden van de gebruikers (SUMHIT) : samenvatting
Chantry, Mégane - Magerman, Jürgen - Fernandez, Kim ... et al. Brussel : Federaal Wetenschapsbeleid, 2023 (SP3324)
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Substance use and mental health care integration.Une étude des réseaux de services en santé mentale et en addictions en Belgique, leur accessibilité, et les besoins des usagers (SUMHIT) : résumé-abstract
Chantry, Mégane - Magerman, Jürgen - Fernandez, Kim ... et al. Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale, 2023 (SP3325)
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Substance use and mental health care integration.Une étude des réseaux de services en santé mentale et en addictions en Belgique, leur accessibilité, et les besoins des usagers (SUMHIT) : résumé
Chantry, Mégane - Magerman, Jürgen - Fernandez, Kim ... et al. Bruxelles : Politique scientifique fédérale, 2023 (SP3326)
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