Age and sex differences in outpatient antipsychotic prescriptions for schizophrenia: a claims data study.

Most studies on antipsychotic efficacy and safety, including sex differences, focus on young schizophrenia patients. However, with an aging population, the number of older schizophrenia patients is increasing. This group faces challenges due to varying treatment responses and higher risks of adverse reactions, and guidelines often lack specific recommendations due to insufficient trials.

Back on track - digital health applications to treat back pain of rheumatic patients? Results of a qualitative interview study.

Non-specific low back pain (NLBP) is prevalent among patients with rheumatic conditions. Digital health applications (DiGAs) provide reimbursed, personalized home treatment for patients, promising to overcome limitations of traditional healthcare systems. However, the adoption and effectiveness of back pain-specific DiGAs in rheumatology are not well understood.

mHealth Apps for Hypertension Self-Management: Interview Study Among Patient-Users.

Background: Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, affecting over a billion people worldwide. Mobile health (mHealth) apps have emerged as effective tools for managing hypertension, offering capabilities for monitoring blood pressure, fostering lifestyle changes, and improving treatment adherence.

Objective: This study aimed to explore patient-users' perspectives on the hypertension care mHealth app Hypertension.

"Let's put it this way: you can't really live without it" - digital technologies in routine palliative care delivery: an explorative qualitative study with patients and their family caregivers in Germany.

Background: Despite ongoing efforts to integrate palliative care into the German healthcare system, challenges persist, particularly in areas where infrastructure does not fully support digital technologies (DT). The increasing importance of digital technology (DT) in palliative care delivery presents both opportunities and challenges.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the perspectives and preferences of palliative care patients and their family caregivers regarding the use of DT in care delivery.

[Attitudes and Expectations of Psychological and Medical Psychotherapists Towards Open Notes: Analysis of Qualitative Survey Responses].

Objective: This study explores attitudes and expectations of psychotherapists (PT) towards the introduction of digital patient access to clinical notes ("Open Notes"; ON)), including the advantages and disadvantages in psychotherapeutic practice.

Methods: As part of the PEPPPSY study, an online survey was conducted. Free text responses (n = 107) were qualitatively analysed using thematic analysis.

Evaluation of a hybrid telehealth care pathway for patients with axial spondyloarthritis including self-sampling at home: results of a longitudinal proof-of-concept mixed-methods study (TeleSpactive).

Patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) require close monitoring to achieve the goal of sustained disease remission. Telehealth can facilitate continuous care while relieving scarce healthcare resources. In a mixed-methods proof-of-concept study, we investigated a hybrid telehealth care axSpA pathway in patients with stable disease over 6 months.

Acceptance of Telemedicine by Specialists and General Practitioners in Cardiology Care: Cross-Sectional Survey Study.

Background: In the coming years, telemedicine will play a key role in health care. Especially in rural areas with weak infrastructure, telemedicine could be crucial to providing adequate and personalized medical care.

Objective: We investigated the acceptance and preferences of telemedicine among cardiologists, internists, and general practitioners.

Edema related to treatment with psychotropic drugs.

Edema as an adverse drug reaction is a commonly underestimated yet potentially debilitating condition. This study analyzes the incidence of severe psychotropic drug-induced edema (e.g.

Reasons for Acceptance or Rejection of Online Record Access Among Patients Affected by a Severe Mental Illness: Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Over the past few years, online record access (ORA) has been established through secure patient portals in various countries, allowing patients to access their health data, including clinical notes ("open notes"). Previous research indicates that ORA in mental health, particularly among patients with severe mental illness (SMI), has been rarely offered. Little is known about the expectations and motivations of patients with SMI when reading what their clinicians share via ORA.

[Support for families with a mentally ill parent : Which forms of help do mentally ill parents utilize and which would they like to have?].

Background: In Germany different offers of social support are available for families that are provided by different sectors, e.g., the youth welfare and the healthcare systems.

Dysfunctional self-reported interoception predicts residual symptom burden of fatigue in major depressive disorder: an observational study.

Background: Fatigue is a core symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD) and is frequently refractory to antidepressant treatment, leading to unfavorable clinical/psychosocial outcomes. Dysfunctional self-reported interoception (i.e.

How to measure staff continuity in intensive psychiatric home treatment: a routine data and single case analysis.

Background: Intensive forms of outreach mental health care (IOC) such as crisis resolution or home treatment teams are increasingly implemented as alternatives to inpatient admission, providing recovery-oriented treatment at home at comparable costs and outcomes. However, one issue with IOC is the lack of continuity regarding staff members who provide home visits, complicating relationship building and meaningful therapeutic exchange. The aim of this study is to validate existing primarily qualitative findings using performance data and to explore a possible correlation between the number of staff involved within IOC treatment and the service users' length of stay (LOS).

Exploring Associations between C-Reactive Protein and Self-Reported Interoception in Major Depressive Disorder: A Bayesian Analysis.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is associated with dysfunctional self-reported interoception (i.e., abnormal perception of the body's physiological state) and systemic inflammation, both of which adversely affect treatment response.

[Experience-based items of quality in psychiatric treatment: A first multivariate construct].

In the context of psychiatric care, user-generated measurement instruments may contribute to quality development and assurance. An explorative construct of experience-related quality components was developed in participative-collaborative cooperation that grasps the users' experiences of psychiatric care. After developing the components using a grounded theory methodology, they were quantified, and their interrelations were investigated using a multidimensional scaling method to explore their internal cohesion.

Digital preventive measures for arterial hypertension (DiPaH) - a mixed-methods study protocol for health services research.

Introduction: Digital health measures promise to further improve the quality of cardiovascular care but have not yet been widely implemented in routine care. The research project Digital preventive measures for arterial hypertension (DiPaH) will systematically identify structural and individual factors in different stakeholders that influence the use of digital preventive measures in patients with arterial hypertension in Germany. Special focus is given to remote and sparsely populated areas, the age-specific impact, as well as influence of digital health literacy.

Equal access to outreach mental health care? Exploring how the place of residence influences the use of intensive home treatment in a rural catchment area in Germany.

Background: Internationally, intensive psychiatric home treatment has been increasingly implemented as a community-based alternative to inpatient admission. Since 2018, the so-called Inpatient Equivalent Home Treatment (IEHT; German: "Stationsäquivalente Behandlung", short: "StäB") has been introduced as a particularly intensive form of home treatment that provides at least one daily treatment contact in the service users' (SU) home environment. Prior research shows that this can be challenging in rural catchment areas.

Digital technologies in routine palliative care delivery: an exploratory qualitative study with health care professionals in Germany.

Objective: To explore health care professionals' (HCPs) perspectives, experiences and preferences towards digital technology use in routine palliative care delivery.

Methods: HCPs (n = 19) purposively selected from a sample of settings that reflect routine palliative care delivery (i.e.

At-home blood self-sampling in rheumatology: a qualitative study with patients and health care professionals.

Background: The goal of the study was to investigate patients' with systemic rheumatic diseases and healthcare professionals' experiences and preferences regarding self-sampling of capillary blood in rheumatology care.

Methods: Patients performed a supervised and consecutive unsupervised capillary blood self-collection using an upper arm based device. Subsequently, patients (n = 15) and their attending health care professionals (n = 5) participated in an explorative, qualitative study using problem-centered, telephone interviews.

Not in Their Right Mind? Right-Wing Extremism Is Not a Mental Illness, but Still a Challenge for Psychiatry.

Most research in psychiatry on extremism focuses on the question whether there is a connection between extremism and psychiatric diagnoses. In addition, practitioners are increasingly asked to take part in programs aimed at preventing and countering violent extremism by assessing risk for radicalization. However, an issue that remains largely unaddressed is that the rise of the far right in many countries during the last years poses a challenge for psychiatric services as working with right-wing patients can be a source of conflict for practitioners and patients alike.

Mental and Physical Well-Being and Burden in Palliative Care Nursing: A Cross-Setting Mixed-Methods Study.

The working routines in palliative care nursing are associated with a variety of causes of stress with regional and setting-specific differences in Germany. This mixed-methods study aimed to investigate the mental and physical well-being among nurses in German palliative and hospice care and to gain a deeper understanding of procedural and structural aspects that may influence the mental and physical burden in palliative nursing care. The mixed-methods approach combined qualitative interviews, ( = 16) an online survey ( = 101), and subsequent data validation in a focus group ( = 6).