Publications by authors named "Ioanna Athina Botsari"
Article Synopsis
- The study focuses on how Mobile Mental Health Units (MMHUs) in rural Greece manage patients with their first episode of schizophrenia.
- Over 200 patients were analyzed, with a significant portion being male and an average age of 34.9 years at first presentation, highlighting the duration of untreated psychosis and engagement in treatment.
- Despite a high treatment engagement rate, the study finds a low overall percentage of schizophrenia patients seeking help, suggesting the need for improved outreach and research in rural mental health care.
Article Synopsis
- The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the mental health and treatment engagement of patients, leading to significant declines in voluntary attendance at psychiatric services.
- A study in Corfu, Greece, analyzed psychiatric ward attendance and admissions over a 12-month period post-pandemic compared to pre-pandemic data, revealing a 26.5% drop in voluntary patient attendance.
- Additionally, while the length of hospital stays increased by 13.2%, involuntary commitments and overall admission rates remained stable, highlighting differentiated effects on various psychiatric diagnoses.
: Modified Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) in rural settings may be effective in the care of patients with severe mental illness (SMI) that are difficult to engage in community care. The objective of the present study was to explore the impact of the care by a hybrid ACT team on SMI patients' hospitalizations, length of hospital stay, symptomatology and functioning in a rural community treatment setting in Greece. : The hybrid ACT team is an expansion of the services of the well-established generic Mobile Mental Health Unit in a rural area of Northwest Greece, and delivers home-based care for patients with SMI.
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