Qualitative investigation of targets for and barriers to interventions to prevent psychosis relapse

A Systematic Review of Publications on Perceptions and Management of Chronic Medical Conditions Using Telemedicine Remote Consultations by Primary Healthcare Professionals April 2020 to December 2021 During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Telemedicine technologies allow distribution of health-related services and information and can include electronic and telecommunication technologies, remote patient and clinician contact, referral and prescribing, patient education, and monitoring. This systematic review aimed to evaluate publications on the perceptions and management of chronic medical conditions using telehealth remote consultations by primary healthcare professionals between April 2020 and December 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Electronic databases, including Cinhal, PubMed, Science Direct, and ProQuest were searched to extract qualitative studies relevant to the topic. Inclusion criteria were developed based on the Population, Exposure, and Outcomes scoping framework. The target population was healthcare professionals working in primary care settings. Included studies encompassed various types of telemedicine, such as synchronous telemedicine, video conferencing, telephone conversations, and smart devices. Eight studies were included. Synchronous telemedicine was highly effective in ensuring the continuity of care and treatment, providing patients with convenience, improved access to treatment, and earlier disease management. Video conferencing and telephone consultations were the most common methods used. Challenges included concerns about patient privacy, technology literacy, and acceptance. Telemedicine was commended for its ability to provide access to immediate expert medical advice and eliminate the need for long-distance travel, contributing to increased patient compliance. Synchronous telemedicine is a promising solution for managing chronic conditions during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, offering benefits to patients and healthcare professionals. To maximize its potential, concerns regarding patient privacy, confidentiality, and technology literacy need to be addressed. Proper legislation and regulations are required for long-term success of telemedicine, making it a valuable component of healthcare systems.

Antipsychotic Use: Cross-Sectional Opinion Survey of Psychiatrists in India and United Kingdom

The aim of this survey of psychiatrists from the UK and India was to compare their opinions on antipsychotic medication choice and their experiences of such medications' effectiveness and tolerability in patients who were newly diagnosed with acute schizophrenia. Following ethical approval, a cross-sectional online survey of psychiatrists from the UK and India was conducted. Ninety-five responses were received from each country. The most selected first-line APDs in both countries were olanzapine (47.5%), risperidone (42.8%) and aripiprazole (25.3%). A total of 60% of psychiatrists from India (60%) and 48% from the UK (48%) selected 'medication efficacy' as the main factor in their choice. Reassessment and consideration to switch most often took place within 4-6 weeks (53.7%) and 3-6 months (11.6%). The major reasons for switching antipsychotic medications were poor clinical efficacy (69%) and lack of tolerability (45%). Nonadherence was the most common reason for relapse (90% of UK psychiatrists and 70% of Indian psychiatrists), followed by illicit drug use (27.6%). The most commonly reported side effects that led to nonadherence were weight gain (10.8%), drowsiness (10.4%), erectile dysfunction and movement disorders (equally 8.7%). It was concluded that olanzapine, risperidone and aripiprazole are the most commonly selected as the initial treatment choice by psychiatrists from India and the UK. They are perceived as widely effective and well tolerated.

Young Adults' Perspectives on Factors Related to Relapse After First-Episode Psychosis: Qualitative Focus Group Study

Relapse after first-episode psychosis (FEP) is a major clinical challenge for specialized early intervention services. Understanding patient perspectives on factors contributing to relapse can inform the development of risk assessments and preventive interventions. The objective of this study was to identify factors that may contribute to and prevent relapse from the perspectives of patients receiving services for FEP. Data from 25 participants across four focus groups in Canada were analyzed with a descriptive content analysis approach. Twelve factors were identified, of which four (social environment, technology use, medication, and lifestyle behaviors) had both contributory and preventive roles. In descending order of frequency, risk factors for relapse included substance use; unsupportive social environment; technology use; taking and not taking medication; lack of sleep; work, career, or school stress; significant life events; symptoms of depression or mania; generalized worry; and financial stress. Preventive factors consisted of having a supportive social environment, using technology, taking medication, using coping strategies, and engaging in healthy lifestyle behaviors and meaningful activities. These findings extend the literature on relapse vulnerability and protective factors. Importantly, the factors identified in this study are modifiable, and thereby provide insights for the development and optimization of relapse risk assessments and preventive interventions.

Psychotic relapses from the perspective of patients and family members

This qualitative study was carried out with 10 dyads of patients-family members to explore their perception about psychotic relapses. Data were collected through a semi-structured interview from April to August 2019, in Brazil, and analyzed using the thematic analysis proposed by Braun & Clark. Four main themes emerged from the interviews: (1) defining and describing the psychotic relapses; (2) risk factors for psychotic relapse; (3) protective factors for psychotic relapse; and (4) early warning signs: identification of an episode of psychotic relapse. Exploring the perception of patients with psychotic disorders and their families about relapse is fundamental for the development of relapse risk assessment tools and to guide further research on this topic.

Testing Efficacy of Relapse Prevention Intervention among Patients Diagnosed with Schizophrenia in Jordan

Relapse prevention is an essential component in sustaining positive treatment outcomes. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy of a relapse prevention intervention on the ability of patients and their primary caregivers to self-detect and manage early warning signs of relapse, and its impact on relapse rate among patients diagnosed with schizophrenia. Quasi-experimental design; one group posttest only, repeated measure time-series design was employed. A total of 40 patients and their primary caregivers represented the sample in this study. The statistical analysis revealed that the effect of relapse prevention intervention on patients and their primary caregivers' ability to self-detect severity and manage early warning signs of relapse has sustainable and positive effect on patients and their primary caregivers from T1 to T3 (patients, M = 9.0-9.3; caregivers, M = 9.7-9.9). Also, positive effect of intervention detected on abilities of patients and primary caregivers to manage EWS from T1 to T3 (patients, M = 35-36.0; caregivers, M = 39.7-38.1). The analysis also showed a low relapse rate (14.9%). The study showed that relapse prevention interventions is effective and applicable approach that psychiatric nurses can use to ensure sustainable positive outcomes of psychiatric healthcare among patients with schizophrenia.

Digital smartphone intervention to recognise and manage early warning signs in schizophrenia to prevent relapse: the EMPOWER feasibility cluster RCT

BACKGROUND

Relapse is a major determinant of outcome for people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Early warning signs frequently precede relapse. A recent Cochrane Review found low-quality evidence to suggest a positive effect of early warning signs interventions on hospitalisation and relapse.

OBJECTIVE

How feasible is a study to investigate the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a digital intervention to recognise and promptly manage early warning signs of relapse in schizophrenia with the aim of preventing relapse?

DESIGN

A multicentre, two-arm, parallel-group cluster randomised controlled trial involving eight community mental health services, with 12-month follow-up.

SETTINGS

Glasgow, UK, and Melbourne, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

Service users were aged > 16 years and had a schizophrenia spectrum disorder with evidence of a relapse within the previous 2 years. Carers were eligible for inclusion if they were nominated by an eligible service user.

INTERVENTIONS

The Early signs Monitoring to Prevent relapse in psychosis and prOmote Wellbeing, Engagement, and Recovery (EMPOWER) intervention was designed to enable participants to monitor changes in their well-being daily using a mobile phone, blended with peer support. Clinical triage of changes in well-being that were suggestive of early signs of relapse was enabled through an algorithm that triggered a check-in prompt that informed a relapse prevention pathway, if warranted.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The main outcomes were feasibility of the trial and feasibility, acceptability and usability of the intervention, as well as safety and performance. Candidate co-primary outcomes were relapse and fear of relapse.

RESULTS

We recruited 86 service users, of whom 73 were randomised (42 to EMPOWER and 31 to treatment as usual). Primary outcome data were collected for 84% of participants at 12 months. Feasibility data for people using the smartphone application (app) suggested that the app was easy to use and had a positive impact on motivations and intentions in relation to mental health. Actual app usage was high, with 91% of users who completed the baseline period meeting our a priori criterion of acceptable engagement (> 33%). The median time to discontinuation of > 33% app usage was 32 weeks (95% confidence interval 14 weeks to ∞). There were 8 out of 33 (24%) relapses in the EMPOWER arm and 13 out of 28 (46%) in the treatment-as-usual arm. Fewer participants in the EMPOWER arm had a relapse (relative risk 0.50, 95% confidence interval 0.26 to 0.98), and time to first relapse (hazard ratio 0.32, 95% confidence interval 0.14 to 0.74) was longer in the EMPOWER arm than in the treatment-as-usual group. At 12 months, EMPOWER participants were less fearful of having a relapse than those in the treatment-as-usual arm (mean difference -4.29, 95% confidence interval -7.29 to -1.28). EMPOWER was more costly and more effective, resulting in an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of £3041. This incremental cost-effectiveness ratio would be considered cost-effective when using the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence threshold of £20,000 per quality-adjusted life-year gained.

LIMITATIONS

This was a feasibility study and the outcomes detected cannot be taken as evidence of efficacy or effectiveness.

CONCLUSIONS

A trial of digital technology to monitor early warning signs that blended with peer support and clinical triage to detect and prevent relapse is feasible.

FUTURE WORK

A main trial with a sample size of 500 (assuming 90% power and 20% dropout) would detect a clinically meaningful reduction in relapse (relative risk 0.7) and improvement in other variables (effect sizes 0.3-0.4).

TRIAL REGISTRATION

This trial is registered as ISRCTN99559262.

FUNDING

This project was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in Health Technology Assessment; Vol. 26, No. 27. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information. Funding in Australia was provided by the National Health and Medical Research Council (APP1095879).

Developing a Hypothetical Implementation Framework of Expectations for Monitoring Early Signs of Psychosis Relapse Using a Mobile App: Qualitative Study

Background

Relapse is a common experience for people diagnosed with psychosis, which is associated with increased service costs and profound personal and familial distress. EMPOWER (Early signs Monitoring to Prevent relapse in psychosis and prOmote Well-being, Engagement, and Recovery) is a peer worker–supported digital intervention that aims to enable service users to self-monitor their mental health with the aim of encouraging self-management and the shared use of personal data to promote relapse prevention. Digital interventions have not been widely used in relapse prevention and, therefore, little is currently known about their likely implementation—both within trials and beyond.

Objective

Seeking the perspectives of all relevant stakeholder groups is recommended in developing theories about implementation because this can reveal important group differences in understandings and assumptions about whether and for whom the intervention is expected to work. However, the majority of intervention implementation research has been retrospective. This study aimed to discover and theoretically frame implementation expectations in advance of testing and synthesize these data into a framework.

Methods

To develop a hypothetical implementation framework, 149 mental health professionals, carers, and people diagnosed with psychosis participated in 25 focus groups in both Australia and the United Kingdom. An interview schedule informed by the normalization process theory was used to explore stakeholders’ expectations about the implementation of the EMPOWER intervention. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis and then theoretically framed using the Medical Research Council guidelines for understanding the implementation of complex interventions.

Results

All groups expected that EMPOWER could be successfully implemented if the intervention generated data that were meaningful to mental health staff, carers, and service users within their unique roles. However, there were key differences between staff, carers, and service users about what facilitators and barriers that stakeholders believe exist for intervention implementation in both the cluster randomized controlled trial stage and beyond. For example, service user expectations mostly clustered around subjective user experiences, whereas staff and carers spoke more about the impact upon staff interactions with service users.

Conclusions

A hypothetical implementation framework synthesized from stakeholder implementation expectations provides an opportunity to compare actual implementation data gathered during an ongoing clinical trial, giving valuable insights into the accuracy of these stakeholders’ previous expectations. This is among the first studies to assess and record implementation expectations for a newly developed digital intervention for psychosis in advance of testing in a clinical trial.

Trial Registration

ISRCTN Registry ISRCTN99559262; http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN99559262

A qualitative analysis of relatives', health professionals' and service users' views on the involvement in care of relatives in Bipolar Disorder

BACKGROUND

Relatives of people with bipolar disorder report that services do not meet their own needs, despite clinical recommendations for the development of care plans for relatives, provision of information regarding their statutory entitlements, and formal involvement in decision making meetings. Further, there is now conclusive evidence highlighting the benefits of relatives' involvement in improving outcomes for service users, relatives, and the health system as a whole. This qualitative study explored the views of relatives of people with bipolar disorder, service users and healthcare professionals regarding the barriers and the facilitators to relatives' involvement in care.

METHODS

Thirty five people were interviewed (12 relatives, 11 service users and 12 healthcare professionals). Audio recordings were transcribed verbatim and common themes in participants' narratives emerged using framework analysis.

RESULTS

Participants' accounts confirmed the existence of opportunities for relatives to be involved. These, however, were limited and not always accessible. There were three factors identified that influenced accessibility namely: pre-existing worldviews, the quality of relationships and of communication between those involved, and specific structural impediments.

DISCUSSION

These themes are understood as intertwined and dependent on one another. People's thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, cultural identifications and worldviews often underlie the ways by which they communicate and the quality of their relationship. These, however, need to be conceptualised within operational frameworks and policy agendas in health settings that often limit bipolar relatives' accessibility to opportunities for being more formally involved.

CONCLUSIONS

Involving relatives leads to clear benefits for relatives, service users, healthcare professionals, and the health system as a whole. Successful involvement of relatives, however, depends on a complex network of processes and interactions among all those involved and requires strategic planning from policy makers, operational plans and allocation of resources.