Psychosocial aftercare in Switzerland

Implementation of psychosocial aftercare treatment for people with mental disorders: A survey among therapists in Switzerland

Project coordination: Prof. Dr. Birgit Watzke; Katja Machmutow, MSc; Monika Winkler, MA student

Mental disorders are associated with loss of physical wellbeing, co-morbidity, severe impairments in social, psychological and emotional functioning, and increased health care utilisation. Although continuation and maintenance treatments are recommended by clinical guidelines for maintaining outcomes, it is still unclear how aftercare treatments are applied in clinical routine.

The aim of this project is to get an overview of the current clinical routine regarding the delivery of psychosocial aftercare by outpatient therapist in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland. We intend to explore how psychotherapists and psychiatrists define and apply aftercare interventions, and which institutions and providers are involved in delivering different kinds of aftercare treatments.

In semi-structured interviews, several professionals (e.g., general practitioners, family doctors , psychologists, health insurances, helplines) of the health system were consulted to get an impression of the current situation. As a result, we designed an online questionnaire, which was sent to psychotherapists and psychiatrists (in- and outpatient) all over Switzerland. The questionnaire addresses the following aspects: defining aftercare (e.g., differentiating between acute care and after care), organising and conducting aftercare, reimbursement and financing, ways of optimising of the current system.

Data collection is finished and evaluation is currently in progress. It is hoped that the results of this survey contribute to the establishment of more systematic aftercare in mental health care in order to prevent relapses and help patients maintain their outcomes of acute therapy. 

Project start: Fall 2014

Expected end of project: spring 2016