Integrating mental health into primary care in Arkhangelsk County, Russia: the Pomor model in psychiatry.

Background: Primary health care is still peripheral in the identification and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders in the Russian Federation. However, the development of primary health services has been given priority. A long-standing collaboration between Arkhangelsk County and northern Norway on mental health service development in Arkhangelsk has promoted the integration of mental health into primary care.

Treatment needs, diagnoses and use of services for acutely admitted psychiatric patients in northwest Russia and northern Norway.

Background: We compared demography, diagnoses and clinical needs in acutely admitted psychiatric hospital patients in northwest Russia and northern Norway.

Method: All acutely admitted psychiatric patients in 1 psychiatric hospital in north-west Russia and 2 in northern Norway were in a three months period assessed with HoNOS and a Norwegian form developed to study acute psychiatric services (MAP). Data from a total of 841 patients were analysed (377 Norwegian, 464 Russian) with univariate and multivariate statistics.

Psychometric evaluation of the Ward Atmosphere Scale in a Russian psychiatric hospital.

Aim: The aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the 10 subscales of the Ward Atmosphere Scale (WAS) in a Russian psychiatric hospital.

Methods: A total of 212 patients and 96 staff members at five wards for acute psychiatric patients completed the WAS. We calculated Cronbach's alpha, the Corrected Item Total Subscale Correlation (CITC), and item-revised subscale intercorrelations.

The effect of gender in diagnosing early schizophrenia--an experimental case simulation study.

Background: Studies of diagnostic practice confirm that there is a diagnostic delay in diagnosing women with schizophrenia compared to diagnosing men. The aim of the present study was to investigate the diagnostic practice of Norwegian and Russian psychiatrists when it comes to early psychosis, emphasising gender differences. We wanted to study the association between patient gender as such and diagnostic decision-making among psychiatrists.