The Mental Health Services Research (MHSR) group is dedicated to research into the organisation of mental-health care delivery and services. Under the academic responsibility of Pr. V. Lorant and Pr. V. Dubois, it is co-ordinated by Pablo Nicaise, PhD. It is composed of members of the IRSS and of external scientific collaborators.
The MHSR group is also acknowledged as « Contact Group » by the FNRS, chaired by Prs. Lorant (UCL), Dubois (UCL) and Ansseau (Ulg). It organises an annual seminar as to favour collaboration and exchange between researchers and field professionals about research and evidence, in Belgium and elsewhere, on mental-health care organisation and delivery.
As a university team, it also centrally acts as a tool for knowledge and good-practice dissemination to all stakeholders in the field: researchers and teachers, clinicians, policy-makers, users and their relatives.
The group meets once a month.
• Mental-health inequalities,
• The resort to involuntary treatment and alternatives,
• Community-based psychiatric care
• Recovery-oriented care, social rehabilitation
• Support to employment, housing, and social relationships of mentally-ill people
• Development aid in mental health
• Care integration and service coordination in the field of mental health
• Care continuity and the use of services
• Social support networks of mentally-ill patients
• The place and involvement of users in the organisation and delivery of mental-health care
• Outreach and mobile teams
COFI: "Comparing policy framework, structure, effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of functional and integrated systems of mental health care"
(2014-2018): European research (FP-7), coordinated by the Queen Mary University of London (Pr. S. Priebe) and carried out in Belgium, Germany, Poland, Italy, and England. This research aimed to evaluate the organisation of continuity of care between psychiatric inpatient and outpatient services for patients with severe and chronic mental illness. More than 7500 patients were recruited in hospitals in 2014-2015 (including more than 1000 patients in Belgium), and followed up one year after hospital admission.
The IRSS team was responsible for the study in Belgium, and was specifically responsible of the assessment of healthcare policies and systems in the five countries as well as patients' care pathways. Several researchers participated in the study: Pr. V. Lorant(academic leader in Belgium),Dr. Pablo Nicaise (coordinator), F. Wyngaerden, H. Zabeau, D. Bourmorck, M. Molera Gui, P. Smith, and C. Walker.
Publications:
- D. Giacco, V. Bird, P. McCrone, Pr. V. Lorant, Dr. Pablo Nicaise, A. Pfennig, M. Bauer, M. Ruggeri, A. Lasalvia, J. Moskalewicz, M. Welbel, S. Priebe. Specialised teams or personal continuity across inpatient and outpatient mental health care? Study protocol for a natural experiment. BMJ Open, 2015;5:e008996. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-0089962015: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/167547
- G. Dimitri, D.Giacco, M. Bauer, V.J. Bird, L. Greenberg, A. Lasalvia, V. Lorant, J. Moskalewicz, P. Nicaise, A. Pfennig, M. Ruggeri, M. Welbel, S. Priebe. Predictors of length of stay in psychiatric inpatient units: Does their effect vary across countries?. European Psychiatry (2018), 48, 6-12: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/190496
- Bird, V.J. ; Giacco, D. ; Nicaise, P. ; Pfennig, A. ; Lasalvia, A. ; Welbel, M. ; Priebe, S. In-patient treatment in functional and sectorised care: patient satisfaction and length of stay. British Journal of Psychiatry (2018),212 (2), 81-87: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/194334
- D. Giacco, V.J. Bird, T. Ahmad, M. Bauer, A. Lasalvia, V. Lorant, E. Miglietta, J. Moskalewicz, P. Nicaise, A. Pfennig, M. Welbel, S. Priebe. The same or different psychiatrists for in- and out-patient treatment? A multi-country natural experiment. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences 2020, e10, 1-9: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/208878
- P. Smith, P. Nicaise, D. Giacco, V.J. Bird, M. Bauer, M. Ruggeri, M. Welbel, A. Pfennig, A. Lasalvia, J. Moskalewicz, S. Priebe, V. Lorant. Predictors of personal continuity of care of patients with severe mental illness: A comparison across five European countries. European Psychiatry 2019, 56(2), 69-74: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/209409
- V.J. Bird, E. Miglietta, D. Giacco, M. Bauer, L. Greenberg, V. Lorant, J. Moskalewicz, P. Nicaise, A. Pfennig, M. Ruggeri, M. Welbel, S. Priebe. Factors associated with satisfaction of inpatient psychiatric care: A cross-country comparison. Psychological Medicine 2019 [in advance]: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/212498
- J. Klingemann, J. Moskalewicz, P. Nicaise, M. Welbel, A. Matanov, V.J. Bird, S. Priebe. Assessment and treatment of patients with comorbidity of mental health problems and alcohol use disorders: Experiences of clinicians and patients in the United Kingdom and Poland. Alcohol and Alcoholism 2019, 54(3), 279-286: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/215281
- J. Klingemann, M. Welbel, S. Priebe, D. Giacco, A. Matanov, V. Lorant, D. Bourmorck, B. Solltmann, S. Pfeiffer, E. Miglietta, M. Ruggeri, J. Moskalewicz. Personal continuity versus specialisation of care approaches in mental healthcare: experiences of patients and clinicians – results of the qualitative study in five European countries. Social Psychiatry and Psychatric Epidemiology 2019 [in advance]: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/223742
- P. Nicaise, D. Giacco, B. Soltmann, A. Pfennig, E. Miglietta, A. Lasalvia, M. Welbel, J. Wciórka, V.J. Bird, S. Priebe, V. Lorant. Healthcare system performance in continuity of care for patients with severe mental illness: a comparison of five European countries. Health Policy 2020, 124(1), 25-36: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/223555
For-Care Study on care pathways and settings for detained mentally disordered offenders ("internees") in Belgium
(2016-2019): National research in the framework of a convention with the Federal ministry of Public Health, coordinated by the VUB (Pr. M. Leys) in the Dutch-speaking community and by the IRSS in the French-speaking community, and carried out in collaboration with UGent and the University of Liège. Processual and realistic evaluation of the care settings available for, and care pathways of the mentally disordered offenders within the new law and policy on mental health care. The IRSS team was specifically involved in the evaluation of the care trajectories and developed a proposal for an upcoming monitoring system of such trajectories for a routine evaluation.
Under the academic responsibility of Pr. V. Lorant, the research was supervised by Dr. P. Nicaise and conducted by D. Bourmorck and M. Molera Gui.
Publications:
- M. De Pau, A. Mertens, D. Bourmorck, W. Vanderplasschen, P. Nicaise, F. Vander Laenen. Crushed by the Belgian system: Lived experiences of forensic care trajectories by persons labelled as not criminally responsible. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 2020;68:101539. doi:10.1016/j.ijlp.2019.101539 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/225701
Egonet: "Promoting social support network mapping with severe mentally ill patients to improve care coordination, patient involvement, and personalised care"
(2018-2021) Care for patients combining long-term mental, physical, and social issues require a good level of coordination between care providers, individualised care tailored to each situation, and the involvement of the patient and his/her social support network in care. Therefore, a detailed knowledge about the social support network is key. Following the "Morpheus" project, the Egonet study aims to develop a routine intervention and tool in order to facilitate the collection, the description and visualisation, and the analysis of the social support network of patients, in order to improve the care coordination and to evaluate its effects.
The research is coordinated by the IRSS and carried out in partnership with the Institute Paul Lambin and the CERDECAM within a sponsorship of Epsylon, psychiatric network, and Connectar, network of home social care services. The project is funded within the Bridge programme of Innoviris (Brussels Region). Under the responsibility of Pr. V. Lorant, the project is managed byP. Nicaise and Fr. Wyngaerden and conducted by H. Garin.
Morpheus:"(MObilisation du REseau par les USagers)"
(2012-2016) Morpheus is a study on the use of social support networks of severe psychiatric patients for organising continuity of care. Networking data have been collected in 2012-2015 on 380 psychiatric users on three sites (Brussels, Namur, and Manage) with the help of a participant-assisted sociogram technique.
This research has been funded by the FNRS, the Scientific Funds of the 'Frères de la Charité', the Epsylon Group, and the 'Hôpital psychiatrique du Beau-Vallon'. Under the academic responsibility of Pr. V. Lorant and Pr. V. Dubois,, the research has been carried out by F. Wyngaerden.
Publications:
- F. Wyngaerden, P. Nicaise, V. Dubois, V. Lorant. Social support network of psychiatric service users: does cohesion favour continuity of care? Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 2019, 54(6), 725-735: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/213624
Organisation of mental health for adults in Belgium: advantages, barriers, gaps, and overlaps in the current supply of mental health care services, project with the KCE
(2017-2018) The main objective of this research, carried out by the KCE, is the evaluation of the advantages and shortcomings of the organisation of mental health care services in Belgium in the transition towards the model of care in networks that give priority to social inclusion, recovery, and reintegration of patients in the community. A part of this research was outsourced to the MHSR group of the IRSS, in consortium with LUCAS at the KULeuven (Pr. C. Van Audenhove). This part is focussing on the advantages, barriers, gaps, and overlaps in the current mental health care service supply as implemented locally in the 20 areas that were determined within the mental health care reform (2010-2016). This research is mainly based on a qualitative data collection about the views of stakeholders in the local areas, and a confirmatory study based on potential scenarios of future developments
Under the responsibility of Pr. V. Lorant, Dr. P. Nicaise , and Pr. Sophie Thunus, the research is carried out at the IRSS by C. Walker et P. Smith.
Publications:
- KCE. Organisation of mental health care for adults in Belgium. Health Services Research (HSR) Brussels: Belgian Health Care Knowledge Centre (KCE). 2019. KCE Reports 318. D/2019/10.273/50: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/221061
Parcours@bxl : qualitative study of mental-health users' care trajectories in Brussels
(January-June 2018) The main aim of this study is to describe the care trajectories and experience of mental health users in Brussels, and to identify organisational aspects that are likely to optimise such trajectories.
This study completes the abovementioned KCE project, and is funded by the 'Commission Communautaire Commune' of the Brussels Region. Under the responsibility of Pr.Sophie Thunus, the study is carried out by C. Walker with the support of P. Nicaise.
Publications:
- Walker C., Nicaise P., Thunus S. Parcours.Bruxelles: Évaluation qualitative du système de la santé mentale et des parcours des usagers dans le cadre de la réforme Psy 107 en Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, Observatoire de la Santé et du Social de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, 2019, doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.10793.24163 : http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/213121
Other relevant publications:
- V. Lorant. Mortality socio-economic inequalities for small-areas in Belgium: assessing concentration. rev.Epidemiol.Sante Publique 48 (3):239-247, 2000 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/43822
- Pr. V. Lorant, D. Deliege, W. Eaton, A. Robert, P. Philippot, and M. Ansseau. Socioeconomic inequalities in depression: a meta-analysis. Am J Epidemiol 157 (2):98-112, 2003 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/9351
- Pr. V. Lorant, D. Kampfl, A. Seghers, D. Deliege, M. C. Closon, and M. Ansseau. Socio-economic differences in psychiatric in-patient care. Acta Psychiatr.Scand. 107 (3):170-177, 2003 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/9375
- Pr. V. Dubois, Tonglet R, Hoyois Ph, Ka S, Roussaux JP, Hauff E. Household survey of psychiatric morbidity in Cambodia. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2004,50 (2) : 174-185.
- Pr. V. Lorant, A. E. Kunst, M. Huisman, G. Costa, and J. Mackenbach. Socio-economic inequalities in suicide: a European comparative study. Br J Psychiatry 187:49-54, 2005 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/22228
- Pr. V. Lorant, C. Croux, S. Weich, D. Deliege, J. Mackenbach, and M. Ansseau. Depression and socio-economic risk factors: 7-year longitudinal population study. Br.J.Psychiatry 190:293-298, 2007 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/22226
- Pr. V. Lorant, C. Depuydt, B. Gillain, A. Guillet, and Pr. V. Dubois. Involuntary commitment in psychiatric care: what drives the decision? Social Psychiatry & Psychiatric Epidemiology, 2007, 42(5), 360-365. http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/10912
- X. Coton, S. Poly, Ph Hoyois, C. Sophal, Pr. V. Dubois. The healthcare-seeking behaviour of schizophrenic patients in Cambodia. International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 2008, 54(4): 328-337 http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/14179
- Dr. Pablo Nicaise ; Mental Health Service Networks: the Challenge of Articulating Community Care and Integrated Care. Thesis dissertation. Institute of Health and Society, Université Catholique de Louvain, Brussels, 2013: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/128269
- Dr. Pablo Nicaise, Pr. V. Lorant, Pr. V. Dubois. Psychiatric Advance Directives as a complex and multistage intervention: a realist systematic review. Health and Social Care in the Community, 2013, 21(1), 1-14. http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/109981
- E. Maître, C. Debien, Dr. Pablo Nicaise, F. Wyngaerden, M. Le Galudec, P. Genest, F. Ducrocq, P. Delamillieure, B. Lavoisy, M. Walter, Pr. V. Dubois, G. Vaiva. Les directives anticipées en psychiatrie : revue de la littérature qualitative, état des lieux et perspectives. L'Encéphale, 2013, 39(4), 244-251. http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/127062
- Dr. Pablo Nicaise, S. Tulloch, Pr. V. Dubois, A. Matanov, S. Priebe, Pr. V. Lorant. Using Social Network Analysis for Assessing Mental Health and Social Services Inter-Organisational Collaboration: Findings in Deprived Areas in Brussels and London. Administration and Policy in Mental Health, 2013, 40(4), 331-33, 9: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/110712
- V. Lorant, P. Nicaise, V.E. Soto Rojas, W. D'Hoore. Alcohol drinking among college students: college responsibility for personal troubles. BMC Public Health, 2013: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/131150
- Dr. Pablo Nicaise, Pr. V. Dubois, Pr. V. Lorant. Mental healthcare delivery system reform in Belgium: the challenge of achieving deinstitutionalisation whilst addressing fragmentation of care at the same time. Health Policy 2014, 115(2-3), 120-127: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/139794
- Dr. Pablo Nicaise, V.E. Soto, Pr. V. Dubois, Pr. V. Lorant. Users' and health professionals' values in relation to a psychiatric intervention: the case of Psychiatric Advance Directives. Administration and Policy in Mental Health 2015, 42(4), 384-393: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/147034
- A. Grard, Dr. Pablo Nicaise, Pr. V. Lorant. Evaluation de la réforme “Vers de meilleurs soins en santé mentale” – Résultats 2014. Acta Psychiatrica Belgica 2015, 115(1), 40-49: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/163886
- V. Lorant, P. Nicaise. Binge drinking at the University: a social network study in Belgium. Health Promotion International, 2015, 30(3):675-683: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/141385
- Pr. V. Lorant, A. Grard, Dr. Pablo Nicaise, & the Title 107 Study Group. Implementing a Nation-Wide Mental Health Care Reform: An Analysis of Stakeholders’ Priorities. Community Mental Health Journal 2016, 53(2), 343-352: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/165124
- Pr. V. Lorant, A. Grard, C. Van Audenhove, E. Helmer, J. Vanderhaegen, Dr. Pablo Nicaise. Assessment of the priority target group of mental health service networks within a nation-wide reform of adult psychiatry in Belgium. BMC Health Services Research 2016, 16(187), 1-9: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/17402
- Pr. V. Lorant, J. Nazroo, P. Nicaise, The Title107 Study Group. Optimal Network for Patients with Severe Mental Illness: A Social Network Analysis. Administration and Policy in Mental Health 2017, 44(6), 877-887: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/183768
- R.T. Webb, V. Lorant. Neoliberal welfare reform and single parents' mental health. The Lancet Public Health, 2018, 3(7), e307-e308: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/200806
- V. Lorant, R. de Gelder, D. Kapadia, C. Borrell, R. Kalediene et. al. Socioeconomic inequalities in suicide in Europe: the widening gap. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 2018, 212 (6), 356-361: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/202621
- P. Smith, L. Favril, D. Delhauteur, F. Vander Laenen, P. Nicaise. How to overcome political and legal barriers to the implementation of a drug consumption room: An application of the policy agenda framework to the Belgian situation. Addiction Science and Clinical Practice 2019, 14:40: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/221606
- P. Nicaise, A. Grard, M. Leys, C. Van Audenhove, V. Lorant. Key dimensions of collaboration quality in mental health care service networks. Journal of Interprofessional Care 2020: http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/225363
Pr. Vincent Lorant: Professor of medical sociology, his main research topics are: health inequalities, social health determinants, supply and demand of health human resources, health policy, international comparisons of social policies, care networks, alcohol and tobacco policies.
Pr. Vincent Dubois: Professor of psychiatry, Medical Director of the Epsylon Mental-Health network, his main research topics are: emergency and crisis psychiatry, mental-health care organisation and delivery, involuntary treatment and alternatives.
Dr. Pablo Nicaise: PhD in Public Health Sciences, political sociologist, has an expertise in health policy and systems, evaluation of health services and programmes, particularly in the fields of substance-abuse and mental-health, and network governance.
Pr. Sophie Thunus: PhD in Social and Political Science (ULiège) and assistant professor in health services management. She carries out research on health and mental health system design and implementation, power and knowledge sharing among stakeholders, and role identity issues (care professionals, decision-makers, and users)
François Wyngaerden: Sociologist, researcher in the IRSS and scientific collaborator at the Clinique Fond’Roy. He has a specific interest in models for care integration, users’ autonomy and empowerment. He is preparing a PhD on social support networks of patients and their relation to service delivery.
Delphine Bourmorck: Master in Public Health Sciences with a background of nurse in emergency and intensive care. Research assistant.
Pierre Smith: PhD candidate with a Master in Public Health Sciences and a psychiatric nurse background, his PhD is on the social and economic integration of people with a severe mental illness. Topics of interest: psychiatric epidemiology, social determinants of mental health, and the organisation of the mental health care supply and services.
Hélène Garin: PhD candidate with a Master in Public Health Sciences and a nurse background, she is interested in mental health care and the improvement of health care in general. Researcher in the Egonet project, her thesis regards the social support networks of psychiatric service users.
Carole Walker: psychologist, researcher on the COFI, KCE-Mental Health, and Parcours.Bruxelles projects.
External members: Dr. J.L. Feys, Dr. Guy Deleu, Pr. M. Ansseau, Pr. Ph. De Timary, J_Ch. Peeters.