TY - JOUR
T1 - A comparison of mental health care systems in northern and southern Europe
T2 - A service mapping study
AU - Sadeniemi, Minna
AU - Almeda, Nerea
AU - Salinas-Pérez, Jose A.
AU - Gutiérrez-Colosía, Mencía R.
AU - García-Alonso, Carlos
AU - Ala-Nikkola, Taina
AU - Joffe, Grigori
AU - Pirkola, Sami
AU - Wahlbeck, Kristian
AU - Cid, Jordi
AU - Salvador-Carulla, Luis
N1 - Funding Information:
The Refinement Project has been funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme ([FP7/2007-2013] ([FP7/2007-2011]) under grant agreement no 261459. www.refinementproject.eu. This part of the study received research grants from Helsinki City and Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa.
Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: The Refinement Project has been funded by the European Commission Seventh Framework Programme ([FP7/2007-2013] ([FP7/2007-2011]) under grant agreement no 261459. www.refinementproject.eu. This part of the study received research grants from Helsinki City and Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
PY - 2018/6
Y1 - 2018/6
N2 - Mental health services (MHS) have gone through vast changes during the last decades, shifting from hospital to community-based care. Developing the optimal balance and use of resources requires standard comparisons of mental health care systems across countries. This study aimed to compare the structure, personnel resource allocation, and the productivity of the MHS in two benchmark health districts in a Nordic welfare state and a southern European, family-centered country. The study is part of the REFINEMENT (Research on Financing Systems’ Effect on the Quality of Mental Health Care) project. The study areas were the Helsinki and Uusimaa region in Finland and the Girona region in Spain. The MHS were mapped by using the DESDE-LTC (Description and Evaluation of Services and Directories for Long Term Care) tool. There were 6.7 times more personnel resources in the MHS in Helsinki and Uusimaa than in Girona. The resource allocation was more residential-service-oriented in Helsinki and Uusimaa. The difference in mental health personnel resources is not explained by the respective differences in the need for MHS among the population. It is important to make a standard comparison of the MHS for supporting policymaking and to ensure equal access to care across European countries.
AB - Mental health services (MHS) have gone through vast changes during the last decades, shifting from hospital to community-based care. Developing the optimal balance and use of resources requires standard comparisons of mental health care systems across countries. This study aimed to compare the structure, personnel resource allocation, and the productivity of the MHS in two benchmark health districts in a Nordic welfare state and a southern European, family-centered country. The study is part of the REFINEMENT (Research on Financing Systems’ Effect on the Quality of Mental Health Care) project. The study areas were the Helsinki and Uusimaa region in Finland and the Girona region in Spain. The MHS were mapped by using the DESDE-LTC (Description and Evaluation of Services and Directories for Long Term Care) tool. There were 6.7 times more personnel resources in the MHS in Helsinki and Uusimaa than in Girona. The resource allocation was more residential-service-oriented in Helsinki and Uusimaa. The difference in mental health personnel resources is not explained by the respective differences in the need for MHS among the population. It is important to make a standard comparison of the MHS for supporting policymaking and to ensure equal access to care across European countries.
KW - Community care
KW - Deinstitutionalization
KW - Main type of care
KW - Mental health care
KW - Mental health services
KW - Standard comparison
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85047997694&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/ijerph15061133
DO - 10.3390/ijerph15061133
M3 - Article
C2 - 29857556
AN - SCOPUS:85047997694
SN - 1661-7827
VL - 15
SP - 1
EP - 15
JO - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
JF - International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
IS - 6
M1 - 1133
ER -
