Jaap van Weeghel

Geïnspireerd door het format van Current Opinion-tijdschriften bespreken de auteurs in deze bijdrage trends in de wetenschappelijke literatuur en daarnaast recente inzichten uit praktijkgerichte publicaties vanuit kennisinstituten en expertisecentra over financiële problemen bij mensen met psychische aandoeningen in Nederland. Methodologische keuzes in de literatuur en bestaande interventies en hun toepasbaarheid bij mensen met ernstige psychische problemen komen aan bod. De inzichten worden in internationaal perspectief geplaatst.

Purpose: Recovery is a key objective in mental health services for people with severe mental illness (SMI). In addition to clinical and functional recovery, personal recovery has gained increasing attention. The CHIME Framework identifies five personal recovery processes—Connectedness, Hope, Identity, Meaning, Empowerment—and is the theoretical foundation for the Brief INSPIRE, a validated Patient-Rated Experience Measure (PREM) to evaluate recovery support. Brief INSPIRE was modified to a five-item Patient-Rated Outcome Measure (PROM) assessing recovery, called Brief INSPIRE-Outcome (Brief INSPIRE-O). Subject of this study are the psychometric properties of the Brief INSPIRE-O. Methods: Data on validity and reliability gathered through annual routine outcome monitoring were collected for 861 individuals with SMI of Flexible Assertive Community Treatment teams and a follow-up measurement was available for 232 of these individuals. Test–retest reliability was evaluated in a separate subset of 30 individuals with SMI. Results: The Brief INSPIRE-O shows good internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha 0.77), test–retest reliability, construct validity, sensitivity to change and no floor or ceiling effects. Furthermore, change in Brief INSPIRE-O was positively related to changes in quality of life and negatively to problems in clinical functioning and unmet care need. Conclusion: Brief INSPIRE-O can be used for research and monitoring to better understand and improve processes of personal recovery in individuals with SMI.

Purpose: This study assessed the effectiveness of Individual Placement and Support (IPS), Participatory Workplace Intervention (PWI), and IPS + PWI on work participation and health of people with work disabilities. Methods: A randomised controlled 2 × 2 factorial trial with 120 clients and an 18-month follow-up was performed. Differences between IPS and no-IPS and between PWI and no-PWI were assessed using log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazards models. Results: In the IPS group, restricted mean survival time (RMST) for sustainable paid employment was 352 days, compared to 394 in the no-IPS group (HR = 1.47, 95% CI = 0.81–2.63). In the PWI group the RMST was 378 days, compared to 367 in the no-PWI group (HR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.48–1.64). For the secondary outcome ‘starting any paid employment, a trial placement, or education’ RMST was significantly lower for the IPS group (222 days) than for the no-IPS group (335 days; HR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.01–3.42). Mental health was significantly lower (worse) in the PWI group (difference -4.07, 95% CI = -7.93 to -0.22) than in the no-PWI group. For all other secondary outcomes, no statistically significant differences were found. Conclusion: No statistically significant differences were observed in the duration until starting sustainable employment between IPS and no-IPS, and between PWI and no-PWI. The duration until starting any paid employment, a trial placement, or education was shorter in the IPS group than in the no-IPS group, but further research should explore whether this also increases sustainable employment in the longer term.

Purpose: This study is a process evaluation of the use of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) and Participatory Workplace Intervention (PWI) to increase the work participation of people with work disabilities. We ran the evaluation alongside a randomized controlled trial (RCT), to investigate whether and to what extent IPS and PWI were executed according to protocol. Methods: The study population consisted of clients with work disabilities, and their job coaches who were employed by the municipality of a large city in the Netherlands. Data were collected between September 2019 and November 2022 using registration forms, accompanied by researchers’ notes and logbooks. Results: For IPS the dose delivered was reasonable and the IPS fidelity measurement score was fair. The job search focused on paid work for almost all clients and was based on their wishes as indicated in the protocol, but integration of employment services with (health) care was often lacking. A minority of the clients who were assigned to PWI received the intervention, often because the client did not start work within the follow-up period and a workplace was a requirement to apply the intervention. Conclusion: The results of this study show that IPS was executed reasonably and with a fair fidelity, which indicated implementation was sufficient to find an effect on work participation in the RCT. PWI was barely realized in practice and no conclusions regarding the fidelity could be drawn. We therefore conclude that we cannot expect PWI to have any effect on work participation in the RCT.

Objective: To determine if and which types of organisational interventions conducted in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in healthcare are effective on mental health and wellbeing. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, we searched six scientific databases, assessed the methodological quality of eligible studies using QATQS and grouped them into six organisational intervention types for narrative synthesis. Only controlled studies with at least one follow-up were eligible. Results: We identified 22 studies (23 articles) mainly conducted in hospitals with 16 studies rated of strong or moderate methodological quality. More than two thirds (68%) of the studies reported improvements in at least one primary outcome (mental wellbeing, burnout, stress, symptoms of depression or anxiety), most consistently in burnout with eleven out of thirteen studies. We found a strong level of evidence for the intervention type “Job and task modifications” and a moderate level of evidence for the types “Flexible work and scheduling” and “Changes in the physical work environment”. For all other types, the level of evidence was insufficient. We found no studies conducted with an independent SME, however five studies with SMEs attached to a larger organisational structure. The effectiveness of workplace mental health interventions in these SMEs was mixed. Conclusion: Organisational interventions in healthcare workers can be effective in improving mental health, especially in reducing burnout. Intervention types where the change in the work environment constitutes the intervention had the highest level of evidence. More research is needed for SMEs and for healthcare workers other than hospital-based physicians and nurses.

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to explore the meaning of work for the subjective well-being of autistic adults with and without paid (competitive) employment and to evaluate the differences and similarities between these groups. Methods: Eight focus groups were conducted, including a total of 64 autistic adults. Four groups entailed participants with current paid employment (including part-time) and four groups entailed participants without paid employment. All discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim to enable inductive thematic content analysis. Data were analyzed using ATLAS.ti 9. Results: Generally, both groups viewed paid employment as very important for well-being, albeit for different reasons. Three themes were found: (1) Not having paid employment was associated with lacking societal recognition, and subsequent low self-esteem, which was a dominant theme in those without work; (2) Work can seriously damage (mental) health and well-being, found in both groups; and (3) Paid employment provides many benefits for well-being, with subthemes: ‘purpose,’ ‘social contacts,’ ‘growth and use of talents,’ ‘structure and calmness,’ and ‘income and freedom’, which was a dominant theme in those with paid employment. Conclusions: Both groups found paid employment highly important for their well-being, albeit for different reasons. However, both also agreed that paid employment can be very harmful to (mental) health and well-being. Suitable, well-supported jobs are important for well-being, may help to buffer stress in other life areas, and may even prevent autistic burnout. More studies are needed on how healthy jobs can be created where autistic individuals get positive energy and experience high well-being. This will also help to reduce socio-economic inequality.

Background: Individuals with severe mental illness experience more victimization and discrimination than other persons in the community. Effective rehabilitation and recovery-oriented care interventions aimed at addressing this issue are lacking. We therefore developed a victimization-informed intervention (accompanied by a training module for professionals) called the Victoria intervention. The purpose of the present study was to understand the trial effects by examining the implementation process and the factors that influenced it.Materials and methods: A process evaluation was conducted using a mixed-methods design. During the professionals’ intervision sessions, we used observations to understand the learning processes (n = 25). Subsequently, we studied the use of the intervention in practice through structured questionnaires (n = 215) and semi-structured interviews (n = 34) with clients and professionals. We used descriptive and inferential statistics for the quantitative data and the framework method for the analyses of the qualitative data.Results: The observations showed that the trainings were well received. The professionals shared the urgency of paying attention to victimization and discrimination and its harmful effects on participation. They also found the intervention steps to be logical and the intervention protocol easy to use. Nevertheless, they mentioned in the interviews that they had experienced difficulties initiating a conversation about victimization, and if they started one, they did not always follow the steps of the intervention as intended. Few clients said that victimization was placed on the agenda, though those who had discussed victimization with their caregivers expressed their appreciation in the interviews; they felt acknowledged and supported.Discussion: The findings indicate that the intervention was considered helpful in raising awareness and the acknowledgment of victimization. However, professionals remain reluctant to talk about the subject, and the results show they need more practical training in this regard. This process evaluation has an important added value in that it helps us to understand the results of the effect evaluation of the intervention. The findings will facilitate the development and implementation of interventions that address clients’ victimization experiences in community mental healthcare settings and subsequently enable their participation in society.

The narrative enhancement and cognitive therapy (NECT) intervention aims to reduce self-stigma among people with severe mental illness. Based on previous studies that showed the intervention's beneficial outcomes, we conducted an uncontrolled pilot study of NECT in the Netherlands to assess both feasibility in delivering NECT and outcomes of the intervention for self-stigma, hope, recovery, and self-concept clarity. Feasibility was assessed through uptake and implementation data that included an assessment of enhancing and impeding factors according to surveys with NECT facilitators, and interviews with participants. Outcomes of NECT were studied through scales that assess self-stigma, self-concept clarity, hope, personal recovery, and quality of life. Forty-one participants from five treatment sites participated in the pilot study, among whom 78% were considered "exposed" (i.e., attended at least six sessions). The analysis of enhancing and impeding factors indicated that support from the organization, sense of ownership, expectations of outcomes, and content of the intervention were reported as important in the implementation process. Participants reported decreases in self-stigma and increases in hope during the intervention. Assessments of feasibility provided valuable insights regarding ways to improve implementation of the intervention (such as increasing facilitators' sense of ownership of the intervention). Outcomes of NECT showed a decrease in self-stigma and improvement of hope among participants in this pilot study, supporting the previously found positive effects of the intervention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Accessible Summary: What is known on the subject?: To date, the majority of the research regarding innovative psychosocial interventions in psychiatry focuses upon the development and effectiveness of the interventions. Despite the fact that these are important clinical and scientific contributions, only a small percentage of the evidence‐based interventions reach clinical practice. Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT) is an effective psychosocial intervention to increase daily functioning and cognitive functioning in people diagnosed with severe mental illness (SMI) in inpatient and outpatient psychiatric care. Despite knowledge on the intervention's effectiveness, systematic use of CAT in the daily routine of mental health nurses is insufficient. What the paper adds to existing knowledge?: To date, no research is available that describes the factors associated to the implementation of CAT from a nursing perspective. This research also adds to the literature on rehabilitation in people diagnosed with SMI in an inpatient setting. The results contribute to the science of implementing interventions in long‐term psychiatric care and may help future interventions in their implementation process. What are the implications for practice?: This study highlights that multiple factors need to be considered when implementing an intervention in routine care and that it is a complicated process. Future implementation initiatives require ongoing training and supervision of CAT specialists, appointment of local champions to increase commitment among nursing staff and inclusion and commitment of management to overcome organizational barriers. Without acknowledging the presence of barriers to implementation and considering strategies to overcome these barriers, sustainable implementation is likely to be unsuccessful. Introduction: Evidence‐based interventions in psychiatry often fail to reach clinical practice. Cognitive Adaptation Training (CAT) is an evidence‐based psychosocial intervention that aims to improve daily functioning of people diagnosed with a severe mental illness. Implementation of CAT remains challenging, despite demonstrated effectiveness.Aim: Identifying facilitators and barriers of CAT on the intervention, nursing, and organizational levels, and investigating relationships between capability, opportunity, motivation, and appraisal using the COM‐B model.Method: The Measurement Instrument for Determinants of Innovations and CAT‐specific questions were administered to 46 nurses. The relationship among capability, opportunity, motivation and appraisal was calculated using the Pearson's r correlation coefficient.Results: Nine barriers (mostly organizational level) and 13 facilitators (mostly intervention and nursing level) were identified. Significant moderate correlations were found between capability and opportunity, capability and motivation, capability and appraisal and a strong correlation between motivation and appraisal.Discussion: The results suggest that barriers at the organizational level should be removed and facilitators at intervention and nursing levels may be exploited to improve implementation.Implications for practice: Future implementation initiatives require ongoing training and supervision of CAT specialists, appointment of local champions to increase commitment among nursing staff and inclusion and commitment of management to overcome organizational barriers.