Brief description: Nearly a billion people in the world live with a mental disorder;1 prevalence estimates are 2-3 times higher among individuals with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes2 or HIV.3 Fewer than half of people with mental disorders receive treatment,4 leading to tremendous costs, disability burden, and premature mortality.5 Integration of mental health services into primary or specialty medical care is a feasible and efficient strategy for increasing access to effective mental health care. More than 40 integrated care models can improve mental health outcomes across diverse medical settings and populations.6 Collaborative Care is a data-driven, multi-component, team approach to integrated care7 and may be particularly effective for treatment of multiple chronic conditions, and improving both mental health and medical outcomes.8-9 Dr. Chwastiak will review the evidence for the effectiveness of Collaborative Care in co-management of multi-morbidity across low-resource settings, describe key implementation challenges, and highlight promising approaches for scaling.
Learning Objectives:
Review the research evidence supporting Collaborative Care effectiveness in treatment of multi-morbidity and improving medical outcomes as well as mental health outcomes.
Identify strategies for efficient scaling of Collaborative Care in low resource settings, such as primary and secondary care settings in low- and middle-income countries and safety net and low-barrier primary care clinics in the US.
