OBJECTIVE: This case series explored the integration of smartwatches in a community mental health service to support severe mental illness (SMI) management and intervention. We examined whether biometric data provided by smartwatches could help to predict relapse and inform treatment decisions.
METHODS: Four Australian SMI outpatients of mixed diagnoses (age range = 19-24) were selected from a prior study. Clinicians accessed patients\' biometric data (activity, sleep, heart rate, and electrodermal activity) through smartwatches.
RESULTS: Changes in circadian rhythm and electrodermal activity preceded hospitalization in two cases. Additionally, smartwatch data was effectively used to guide targeted interventions, improving patient treatment outcomes.
CONCLUSIONS: Integrating smartwatches in community mental health services offers promise as adjunct tools for SMI management. However, ethical considerations on data privacy and technology reliance require further evaluation. Additionally, as this is a small case series, randomized controlled trials with larger sample sizes are required to provide evidence for generalisability of results.

Case management is a widely utilized service in both youth and adult outpatient community mental health settings. Despite its widespread use, previous findings suggest that youth case management often lacks empirically tested models or frameworks. This article presents the results of a pilot study that involved adapting the Strengths Model, an adult case management model, for the child and adolescent outpatient community mental health population. The newly adapted model, known as the Strengths Model for Youth (SM-Y), was implemented in an urban community mental health center across five different youth case management teams. To assess changes over time in youth receiving SM-Y case management, marginal maximum likelihood multilevel modeling with adaptive Gaussian quadrature methods was applied. The study focused on three domains: socialization, education, and hospitalization. Utilizing the logit link function and Bernoulli conditional distribution due to the binary nature of the outcome data, three individual trajectories were drawn for socialization, education, and hospitalization. Positive findings indicated increases in socialization and educational performance among children and adolescents.

This study aimed to develop and verify the effects of a web-based physical healthcare education program for community mental health case managers during the time of COVID-19. Six modules of mental health case management physical health education program were developed and provided using the EdWith education platform, which enables real-time streaming, lecture participant management and whether participants have watched the video and watch time. A total of 51 community mental health case managers participated in the study. Collected data were analyzed using SPSS 26.0 software. Participants of the physical healthcare education program testified increased performance in, as well as enhanced attitudes toward physical healthcare. Their confidence in physical healthcare increased significantly from that of the individuals in the control group. The web-based educational program for mental health case managers in physical healthcare may be beneficial to improving the physical health of clients with chronic mental illness.

In response to the global call to upscale mental health services in low--income countries, mental health non-governmental organisations (MHNGOs) have sprung up in Kerala to address mental health needs by partnering with pre-existing locally grown, bottom-up, community-led pain and palliative clinics (PPCs) to increase access to mental health care through task-shifting. The MHNGOs mandate filtering only patients with \'severe mental disorders\' from low socioeconomic backgrounds for their free services. This eligibility criterion mandated by the MHNGO is ruffling feathers within the palliative clinics that oppose such -classifications. They believe that suffering cuts across all divisions and should not be discriminated against based on economic background and severity of illnesses. When chronicity and suffering are held universal by the MHNGO and palliative care, respectively, it brings to the fore the enactment of two perspectives of care. Drawing on observations of clinical interactions between patients, MHNGO staff and mental health professionals and interviews with community volunteers of palliative care clinics in Kerala, this paper demonstrates how chronicity narrative promoted by MHNGOs based on biopsychiatric model gains hegemony, whereas the community care model loses traction progressively. The state, caught between these two narratives, frontstages development by submitting its health machinery to the MHNGOs flouting basic medical safety laws in its services to marginalised people like the tribal population. This paper argues that the rising dominance of chronicity narrative in community mental health clinics as well as in popular media discourses evolves out of power relations between the MHNGOs and the palliative clinics.

This study defined intergenerational integration in communities at a theoretical level and verified whether a series of measures could facilitate negotiation and communication between community residents and other stakeholders to generate a positive and healthy community environment and gradually improve intergroup relations. Specifically, we applied community psychology and used Hongqiao New Village in Shanghai, China, as a research site to explore intergenerational conflict in public community spaces. The research was divided into two stages: an input stage and an output stage. In the input stage, participatory research and tea parties were used to deeply explore residents\' public space requirements. In the output stage, we tested the validity of the theory by using the Intergenerational Attitude Scale to investigate whether the intergenerational relationships were changed by the co-creation intervention. The results showed that the intervention caused a decrease in the incidence of conflict between residents using the square and caused some children to join the older groups in their activities. We thus propose a theoretical system model of intergenerational integration strategies that incorporates elements of integration, disagreement, and synergy in intergenerational interactions. Overall, this paper provides new ideas for building a community environment that supports mental health and improves intergenerational relationships and social well-being.

OBJECTIVE: WHO declared that mental health care should be considered one essential health service to be maintained during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aims to describe the effect of lockdown and restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy on mental health services\' utilisation, by considering psychiatric diagnoses and type of mental health contacts.
METHODS: The study was conducted in the Verona catchment area, located in the Veneto region (northeastern Italy). For each patient, mental health contacts were grouped into: (1) outpatient care, (2) social and supportive interventions, (3) rehabilitation interventions, (4) multi-professional assessments, (5) day care. A \'difference in differences\' approach was used: difference in the number of contacts between 2019 and 2020 on the weeks of lockdown and intermediate restrictions was compared with the same difference in weeks of no or reduced restrictions, and such difference was interpreted as the effect of restrictions. Both a global regression on all contacts and separate regressions for each type of service were performed and Incidence Rate Ratios (IRRs) were calculated.
RESULTS: In 2020, a significant reduction in the number of patients who had mental health contacts was found, both overall and for most of the patients\' characteristics considered (except for people aged 18-24 years for foreign-born population and for those with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Moreover, in 2020 mental health contacts had a reduction of 57 096 (-33.9%) with respect to 2019; such difference remained significant across the various type of contacts considered, with rehabilitation interventions and day care showing the greatest reduction. Negative Binomial regressions displayed a statistically significant effect of lockdown, but not of intermediate restrictions, in terms of reduction in the number of contacts. The lockdown period was responsible of a 32.7% reduction (IRR 0.673; p-value <0.001) in the overall number of contacts. All type of mental health contacts showed a reduction ascribable to the lockdown, except social and supportive interventions.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite the access to community mental health care during the pandemic was overall reduced, the mental health system in the Verona catchment area was able to maintain support for more vulnerable and severely ill patients, by providing continuity of care and day-by-day support through social and supportive interventions.

With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping the world, there is an increased focus on intergenerational relationships, community mental health issues, and well-being in community contexts. This paper assesses the effectiveness of a co-creation approach for intergenerational integration at the theoretical level. The study used a collaborative co-creation design method in the community design process to explore whether the participation of community residents of all ages in addressing community issues promoted communication and alleviated stereotyping between the various generations. This study was conducted in Shanghai\'s Hongqiao New Village square, where we conducted participatory research and co-creation workshops in response to the demand for the use of the public space as a location for social interactions. The results showed that intervention in community creation through collaborative design is conducive to promoting friendly relations among different age groups, forming a sense of social security and thus enhancing social well-being. Finally, this paper combines practical cases and theoretical models of collaborative co-creative design approaches to promote the intergenerational integration of communities and is summarized from the input and output parts as well as the influencing factors and constraints of the collaborative co-creative. In addition, it provides new ideas on how to improve intergenerational relationships and form a positive and sustainable community mental health environment in the future.

Despite progress made under California\'s Mental Health Services Act, limited access to care for cultural and linguistic minority groups remains a serious issue in community mental health. In this qualitative study we report findings from a large-scale community-level assessment that explored barriers to accessing care from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders including county advisors, advocates, community members, and consumers representing a range of cultural and linguistic communities in Orange County, California. We conducted 14 focus groups with N = 112 participants. Qualitative analysis revealed that system fragmentation, limited availability of linguistically appropriate care, and stigma continue to undermine access to mental health care. Peer health navigation and culturally responsive peer support are potential ways to promote service engagement with persons from cultural and linguistic minority groups that encounter barriers when accessing mental health services.

Community mental health systems worldwide have undergone transformation in order to accommodate enormous demands of the pandemic and its mitigation efforts. The pandemic created unprecedented challenges that required Mehac Foundation (further referred as Mehac), a not for profit organization based in Kerala, to reassess our care delivery model. The aim of this report is to present a flexible, need-based biopsychosocial response; a case study effectuated by the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) with a focus on minimizing the impact of COVID 19 on vulnerable communities, while adhering to timely regulations issued by the government. The key aspect of our biopsychosocial response was implementation of a phased approach that was rooted in real time need identification. The strategies will be described under broad headings of (i) adaptations for maintaining continuity of care, (ii) identifying vulnerable subgroups and need based psychological response, (iii) exploring social dimensions of the pandemic and implementing strategies to address them, (iv) ensuring team well-being and enhancing skills to effectively respond to the challenges.

Principles-focused evaluations allow evaluators to appraise each principle that guides an organization or program. This study completed a principles-focused evaluation of a new community mental health intervention called Short Term Case Management (STCM) in Toronto, Canada. STCM is a time limited intervention for clients to address unmet needs and personalized goals over 3 months. Findings showcase that a principles-focused evaluation, assessing whether program principles are guiding, useful, inspiring, developmental and/or evaluable (GUIDE), is a practical formative evaluation approach. Specifically, offering an understanding of a novel intervention, including its key components of assessment and planning, support plan implementation and evaluation and care transitions. Findings also highlight that STCM may work best for those clients ready to participate in achieving their own goals. Future research should explore how best to apply the GUIDE framework to complex interventions, including multiple principles, to increase evaluation feasibility and focus.