Development and interrater reliability of the UK Mental Health Triage Scale

Mental health triage scales are clinical tools used at point of entry to specialist mental health service to provide a systematic way of categorizing the urgency of clinical presentations, and determining an appropriate service response and an optimal timeframe for intervention. The aim of the present study was to test the interrater reliability of a mental health triage scale developed for use in UK mental health triage and crisis services. An interrater reliability study was undertaken. Triage clinicians from England and Wales (n = 66) used the UK Mental Health Triage Scale (UK MHTS) to rate the urgency of 21 validated mental health triage scenarios derived from real occasions of triage. Interrater reliability was calculated using Kendall's coefficient of concordance (w) and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) statistics. The average ICC was 0.997 (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.996-0.999 (F (20, 1300) = 394.762, P < 0.001). The single measure ICC was 0.856 (95% CI: 0.776-0.926 (F (20, 1300) = 394.762, P < 0.001). The overall Kendall's w was 0.88 (P < 0.001). The UK MHTS shows substantial levels of interrater reliability. Reliable mental health triage scales employed within effective mental health triage systems offer possibilities for not only improved patient outcomes and experiences, but also for efficient use of finite specialist mental health services.

Users' psychological characterization of the Birigui Mental Health Clinic

To improve mental health services, the World Health Organization proposes an “epidemiological approach” based on the constant screening of existing research, and aimed at continuous improvement of psychological treatment rather than strict application of prescribed techniques. This study provides an epidemiological survey conducted at the psychology ward of the municipal Ambulatório de Saúde Mental in Birigui, São Paulo, Brazil. Data from 180 patients in psychotherapeutic care were collected, and subsequent descriptive analysis showed that the population consisted predominantly of adults (82.8% of total) and females (81.0%). Depressive disorder was the most common symptom (61.1%), and the majority of the participants (72.2%) received psychological treatment for the first time. The data presented in this paper can assist mental health professionals in selecting appropriate treatment by creating a profile of patients.

The Mental Health System and Older Adults in the 1990s

Trends in mental health services for older adults during the past decade were used to predict salient issues for the current decade. These include overreliance on inpatient treatment, increased use of general hospitals as treatment sites, inadequate integration with the nursing-home industry, and insufficient mental health referrals from general medical providers. In the decade ahead, the mental health needs of older adults are unlikely to be an identified focus; rather the issues will overlap with other priorities (e.g., biomedical research on brain functioning, alternative treatment programs for the chronically mentally ill, and containing health care costs). Advocates for the elderly will be successful to the extent that they cast aging services within the context of these other concerns.

Mental Health and Gun Control Briefing Report

The issue of gun control has once again become a highly contested issue in the United States after the most recent mass shootings at a movie theatre in Aurora, CO, a Sikh temple in Wisconsin, a mall in Portland, OR, and involving Representative Gabby Giffords in Arizona. However, it was not until the horrific tragedy in Newtown, CT, where 20 children and 6 adult staff members were fatally shot at Sandy Hook Elementary School, that the gun control debate reached its peak.

Annual report - Illinois Commission on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.

Mode of access: Internet.

Annual plan ... of the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities.

Title varies slightly.

Community mental health act (HB 708 - as amended) 1969.

Mode of access: Internet.

Community mental health : a program evaluation /

Cover title.

Feasibility study, use of vacant state-owned mental health and developmental disabilities facilities, December 1978 /

Cover title.

Mental health in Illinois.

"A bi-monthly publication of the Illinois Department of Mental Health."

Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Administrative Act (20 ILCS 1705).

"Includes amendments/additions effective through ..., including selected sections of the Civil Administrative Code."

Mental health and developmental disabilities in Illinois : an examination /

Includes bibliographical references.

Report of the Governor's Task Force on the Future of Mental Health in Illinois.

"January 15, 1987."

Report to Governor James R. Thompson on the future of the mental health and developmentally disabled service system in Illinois ... /

"September 16, 1983."

The Community Mental Health Medicaid Trust Fund : background, analyses and recommendations.

"December 2005."