TY - JOUR
T1 - Patients with minor mental disorders leading to sickness absence
T2 - A feasibility study for social workers' participation in a treatment programme
AU - Brouwers, Evelien P.M.
AU - Terluin, Berend
AU - Tiemens, Bea G.
AU - Verhaak, Peter F.M.
N1 - Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the social workers, patients and GPs who participated in the study. The project is funded by the Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development, grant number 2200.0100.
PY - 2006/1
Y1 - 2006/1
N2 - Minor mental disorders are common among patients who visit their general practitioner. In the Netherlands, they are associated with high costs due to absenteeism, disability benefits and medical consumption (consumption of drugs as well as expenditure of medical staff's time). In the Netherlands, a protocol was developed for the treatment of minor mental disorders, based on the principles of brief cognitive behaviour therapy. The cost-effectiveness of this protocol was tested in a group of patients whose minor mental disorders had lead to sickness absence. The protocol was completed by Dutch social workers, one of whose core tasks normally is to provide psychosocial care. The main aims of the protocol are for the patient to regain functionality and to prevent long-term disability. The protocol emphasizes patients' own responsibility and active role in the recovery process, includes homework assignments and stresses the importance of early work resumption. This article focuses on a discussion of the feasibility of this treatment for minor mental disorders. The evidence for or against the protocol's cost-effectiveness will be discussed in future papers. The results show that patients, social workers and general practitioners were motivated to participate and that the protocol was well received by all three groups. If the treatment also proves to be cost-effective, it would appear to be a promising intervention for a frequently encountered problem in primary care.
AB - Minor mental disorders are common among patients who visit their general practitioner. In the Netherlands, they are associated with high costs due to absenteeism, disability benefits and medical consumption (consumption of drugs as well as expenditure of medical staff's time). In the Netherlands, a protocol was developed for the treatment of minor mental disorders, based on the principles of brief cognitive behaviour therapy. The cost-effectiveness of this protocol was tested in a group of patients whose minor mental disorders had lead to sickness absence. The protocol was completed by Dutch social workers, one of whose core tasks normally is to provide psychosocial care. The main aims of the protocol are for the patient to regain functionality and to prevent long-term disability. The protocol emphasizes patients' own responsibility and active role in the recovery process, includes homework assignments and stresses the importance of early work resumption. This article focuses on a discussion of the feasibility of this treatment for minor mental disorders. The evidence for or against the protocol's cost-effectiveness will be discussed in future papers. The results show that patients, social workers and general practitioners were motivated to participate and that the protocol was well received by all three groups. If the treatment also proves to be cost-effective, it would appear to be a promising intervention for a frequently encountered problem in primary care.
KW - Minor mental disorders
KW - Primary care
KW - Social work
KW - Treatment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=31644432527&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bch229
DO - https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bch229
M3 - Review article
SN - 0045-3102
VL - 36
SP - 127
EP - 138
JO - BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK
JF - BRITISH JOURNAL OF SOCIAL WORK
IS - 1
ER -