Job Maintenance through Supported Employment PLUS: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Sickness absence from work due to experienced distress and mental health issues has continuously increased over the past years in Germany. To investigate how this alarming development can be counteracted, we conducted a randomized controlled trial evaluating a job coaching intervention to maintain the working capacity of members of staff and ultimately prevent sickness absence. Our sample included  = 99 employees who reported mental distress due to work-related problems.

[Cooperation, Job Satisfaction and Burn Out - Sustainability in Outpatient Mental Health Care among Medical Specialists in Germany].

Cooperation, job satisfaction, and burn out risk are indicators of sustainability in mental health services. Thus they were assessed among registered medical specialists in outpatient mental health care in Germany. A postal survey consisting of three questionnaires about cooperation, job satisfaction, and burnout was carried out among all registered medical specialists in outpatient mental health care in Germany (n = 4,430).

Hospital utilization outcome of an assertive outreach model for schizophrenic patients - results of a quasi-experimental study.

We assessed whether an Assertive Outreach (AO) program for patients with schizophrenia implemented in German routine care in rural areas reduces psychiatric hospital admissions and/or psychiatric hospital days. We conducted a quasi-experimental controlled study with 5 assessments in 12 months. Data collection included health care utilization (Client Sociodemographic and Service Receipt Inventory), and clinical parameters.

Age- and gender-specific mortality risk profiles for depressive outpatients with major chronic medical diseases.

Background: As leading causes of death, chronic medical diseases, particularly common cardiovascular diseases, are associated with depression. The combination of depression and chronic medical disease in turn is linked with poorer health and premature death. Despite numerous studies on mortality in people with depression and chronic medical disease, the effects of age and gender were not consistently considered.

Using Smartphones to Monitor Bipolar Disorder Symptoms: A Pilot Study.

Background: Relapse prevention in bipolar disorder can be improved by monitoring symptoms in patients' daily life. Smartphone apps are easy-to-use, low-cost tools that can be used to assess this information. To date, few studies have examined the usefulness of smartphone data for monitoring symptoms in bipolar disorder.

Job Maintenance by Supported Employment: An Overview of the "Supported Employment Plus" Trial.

The number of days of absence from work associated with mental illness has risen dramatically in the past 10 years in Germany. Companies are challenged by this issue and seek help for the physical and mental health of their employees. Supported Employment concepts such as the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model have been designed to bring jobless persons with mental disorders back to work.

Clinical and functional outcome of assertive outreach for patients with schizophrenic disorder: Results of a quasi-experimental controlled trial.

Background: The majority of studies support modern assertive health service models. However, the evidence is limited for parts of continental Europe, as well as for the pharmacological adherence outcome parameter.

Method: We conducted a quasi-experimental controlled trial including adult patients with a schizophreniform disorder and a maximum of 60 points on the Global Assessment of Functioning Scale (GAF).

Aspects of Sustainability: Cooperation, Job Satisfaction, and Burnout among Swiss Psychiatrists.

Purpose: Greater sustainability in mental health services is frequently demanded but seldom analyzed. Levels of cooperation, job satisfaction, and burnout are indicators of social sustainability in this field and are of particular importance to medical staff. Because registered psychiatrists play a central role, we assessed the status quo and interactions between these three factors among registered psychiatrists in Switzerland.

Differences in EQ-5D-3L health state valuations among patients with musculoskeletal diseases, health care professionals and healthy volunteers.

Background: Results from existing studies indicate that different respondent groups' health state valuations in cost-utility analyses are not equivalent.

Objectives: The objectives in our study were to analyse differences in health state valuations among three respondent groups in the context of medical rehabilitation in Germany.

Methods: Using the time trade-off (TTO) technique, valuations of EQ-5D-3L health states were obtained from patients with musculoskeletal diseases, healthy volunteers and health care professionals.

Hell is other people? Gender and interactions with strangers in the workplace influence a person's risk of depression.

We suggest that interactions with strangers at work influence the likelihood of depressive disorders, as they serve as an environmental stressor, which are a necessary condition for the onset of depression according to diathesis-stress models of depression. We examined a large dataset (N = 76,563 in K = 196 occupations) from the German pension insurance program and the Occupational Information Network dataset on occupational characteristics. We used a multilevel framework with individuals and occupations as levels of analysis.

Support from the Internet for Individuals with Mental Disorders: Advantages and Disadvantages of e-Mental Health Service Delivery.

Mental disorders are common in almost all industrialized countries and many emerging economies. While several trials have shown that effective treatments exist for mental disorders, such as pharmacotherapy, psychological interventions, and self-help programs, the treatment gap in mental health care remains pervasive. Unrestricted access to adequate medical care for people with mental disorders will be one of the pressing public mental health tasks in the near future.

Antidepressants: relationship to the time to psychiatric readmission and probability of being in hospital in depressive patients.

Introduction: Although antidepressants play a major role in the treatment of patients with depression, it is unclear which specific antidepressants are more efficacious than others. This study aims to analyze the relationship between several antidepressant substances and the time to readmission as well as the probability of being in hospital in a given week by using prescription data.

Methods: The database was health-insurance claim data from the new Federal States in Germany.

[Aspects of sustainability in outpatient health care for demented individuals].

Objectives: The aim of the study was to analyze outpatient health care for demented individuals concerning the sustainability indicators coordination, cooperation and networking as well as finding solutions for present problems in those fields.

Methods: A systematic literature research in several relevant databases and telephone interviews with experts concerning outpatient care for demented individuals were conducted. The interviews were content analyzed.

Cost of illness for bipolar disorder: a systematic review of the economic burden.

Objectives: Recent reviews lack important information on the high cost-of-illness worldwide for bipolar disorder (BD). Therefore, the present study systematically analyzed those costs, their driving components, and the methodological quality with which the few existing cost-of-illness investigations have been performed.

Methods: In June 2012, we conducted a systematic literature review of electronic databases to identify relevant cost-of-illness studies published since 2000.

[A literature- and expert-based analysis of the outpatient treatment of depressive ill people in Germany].

Objective: This study analyses deficits in outpatient care for depressed persons in Germany and seeks to identify possibilities for improvement.

Method: Literature search and expert interviews.

Results: The outpatient depression care does not consider guidelines.

Effectiveness and efficiency of assertive outreach for Schizophrenia in Germany: study protocol on a pragmatic quasi-experimental controlled trial.

Background: A model of assertive outreach (AO) in which office-based psychiatrists collaborate with ambulatory nursing services for providing intensive home-treatment is currently being implemented in rural areas of Lower Saxony, Germany. The costs of the model are reimbursed by some of the statutory health insurance companies active in Lower Saxony. Effectiveness and efficiency of this model for patients suffering from schizophrenia is evaluated in a pragmatic and prospective trial.

The cost of depression - a cost analysis from a large database.

Background: Depression poses a serious economic problem. We performed a cost-of-illness study using data from a German health insurance company to determine which costs are unique to that disease.

Methods: The analysis included every adult and continuously insured person.

[Empirically derived recommendations for measuring patient-reported change in rehabilitation studies].

Diverse methods are available for evaluation of (medical) interventions. In each case one has to decide on a specific method. Our aim was to analyze typical problems involved in the measurement of change.

Long-term health-related quality of life after decompressive hemicraniectomy in stroke patients with life-threatening space-occupying brain edema.

Background: Although randomized clinical trials have reported significant improvement in mortality and functional outcome as measured with modified Rankin Scale (mRS) or Barthel index (BI) in stroke patients with space-occupying anterior circulation infarctions treated with hemicraniectomy, many clinicians are still concerned about the long-term health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Aim: Assessment of HRQoL after hemicraniectomy to holistically reevaluate clinical outcome.

Methods: Eleven patients (6 men, 5 women; mean age 48 (SD 5.

Prediction of improvement in quality of life (QoL-AGHDA) in adults with growth hormone deficiency by normative reference limits: data of the German KIMS cohort.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to calculate sex- and age-specific normative values for health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Germany using quantile regression. Furthermore, we investigate the estimates of these normative data to and to predict the improvement of QoL-AGHDA scores in the German KIMS cohort during growth hormone treatment.

Design: Normative data of HRQoL was assessed by quality of life assessment of growth hormone deficiency (GHD) in adults (QoL-AGHDA) in a representative sample of the German population (n=4172).

Self-perceived quality of life predicts mortality risk better than a multi-biomarker panel, but the combination of both does best.

Background: Associations between measures of subjective health and mortality risk have previously been shown. We assessed the impact and comparative predictive performance of a multi-biomarker panel on this association.

Methods: Data from 4,261 individuals aged 20-79 years recruited for the population-based Study of Health in Pomerania was used.

[The factor structure of direct and indirect methods for measuring change in medical rehabilitation--analyses on item level].

Aim Of The Study: The aim of the study was to examine the direct and the indirect change measurement; previous studies comparing the 2 methods demonstrated that they agree only to a limited extent. Analyses of the factorial structure have shown that indicators of direct change measurement were assigned regardless of the content of a dimension common to them. This paper examined whether previous results obtained on scale level were also valid on item level.

[Back pain and social status among the working population: what is the association? Results from a German general population survey].

Background: Little empirical evidence is available on differential associations between social status indicators and back pain in Germany. This study therefore systematically evaluated associations between different indicators of social status and back pain.

Methods: In total 4,412 employed adults, aged 18 to 65 years participated in a postal survey in 5 regions of Germany.

[Costs of diabetes care and treatment satisfaction in type 2 diabetes patients treated with a basal-bolus (ICT) insulin regimen in outpatient care: results of the LIVE-COM study].

Background And Purpose: Costs for diabetes treatment burden statutory health care systems. Aim of the LIVE-COM study (Long Acting Insulin Glargine versus Insulin Detemir Cost Evaluation Comparison) was to assess resource utilization and costs of diabetes care as well as patient reported outcomes in a random sample of type 2 diabetes patients treated with either insulin glargine (GLA) or detemir (DET) as part of a basal-bolus regimen in a primary care setting.

Patients And Methods: LIVE-COM is a non-interventional, cross-sectional study performed between April and September 2008 in 138 randomly selected centers of primary care physicians in Germany.

The benefit of long-term growth hormone (GH) replacement therapy in hypopituitary adults with GH deficiency: results of the German KIMS database.

Objective: To evaluate the treatment effects of long-term growth hormone (GH) replacement therapy in adults with GH deficiency (GHD) who were followed in KIMS Germany (Pfizer International Metabolic Database), a national surveillance study.

Design: The analysis was performed using baseline and long-term data (range: 4-10 years) of 440 consecutively documented patients (216 women and 224 men) with GHD, aged 20 to 49 years, enrolled in KIMS Germany. Serum insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I), fasting blood glucose, fasting serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) as well as body mass index (BMI), waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference (HC) at baseline and at last visit were studied.