MEMENTA—‘Mental healthcare provision for adults with intellectual disability and a mental disorder’. A cross-sectional epidemiological multisite study assessing prevalence of psychiatric symptomatology, needs for care and quality of healthcare provision for adults with intellectual disability in Germany: a study protocol

Abstract

IntroductionThe study ‘Mental healthcare provision for adults with intellectual disability and a mental disorder’ (MEMENTA) is a cross-sectional epidemiological study carried out in three different regions of Germany. Its main aim is to assess the prevalence of mental disorders in adults with intellectual disability (ID) as well as quality of mental healthcare for this population.Methods and analysisThe target population are persons aged between 18 and 65 years with a mild or moderate ID. The study population will be recruited through service providers. A representative sample is realised by two-stage sampling. First, institutions providing services for people with ID (sheltered workshops) are selected in a stratified cluster sampling, with strata being (1) types of service-providing non-governmental organisations and (2) sizes of their sheltered workshops. Then persons working in selected sheltered workshops are selected by simple random sampling.An estimated number of 600 adults with ID will be included. Information will be obtained from the group leaders in the sheltered workshops, informal carers or staff members in sheltered housing institutions and the person with ID. Besides the main outcome parameter of psychiatric symptomatology and problem behaviour, other outcome parameters such as needs for care, quality of life, caregiver burden, health services utilisation and costs for care are assessed using well-established standardised instruments. If a comorbid mental disorder is diagnosed, quality of mental healthcare will be assessed with open questions to all interview partners and, in addition, problem-focused interviews with a small subgroup. Analyses will be carried out using quantitative and qualitative methods.Ethics and disseminationApproval of all three local ethics committees was obtained. Research findings will add much needed empirical information in order to improve services provided to this vulnerable group of patients.Trial Registration numberNCT01695395.

Mediation and moderation effects of health system structure and process on the quality of mental health services in Ghana – structural equation modelling.

“…The facilities operated on the basis of shared goal of treatment, philosophy of care and expectation for consumers. Within secondary psychiatric unit, systematic sampling was applied to identify and recruit consumers across the selected facilities [24,25].…”

An integrative review on methodological considerations in mental health research – design, sampling, data collection procedure and quality assurance

“…Some studies reviewed highlighted the sampling approaches previously used in mental health research [25, 34, 35]. Generally, all quantitative studies tend to use several probability sampling approaches, whilst qualitative studies used non-probability techniques.…”

“…Generally, all quantitative studies tend to use several probability sampling approaches, whilst qualitative studies used non-probability techniques. The quantitative mental health studies conducted at community and population level employ multi-stage sampling techniques usually involving systematic sampling, stratified and random sampling [25, 34]. Similarly, quantitative studies that recruit consumers in the hospital setting employ consecutive sampling [35].…”

“…The studies reviewed recommended the approaches that are widely applied in collecting data in mental health research. The widely used qualitative data collection approaches in mental health research are focus group discussions (FGDs) [19, 28, 30, 31, 41, 44, 47], extended in-depth interviews [19, 30, 34], participant and non-participant observation [19], Delphi data collection, quasi-statistical techniques [19] and field notes [31, 40]. Seven studies suggest that FGDs are widely used data collection approaches [19, 28, 30, 31, 41, 44, 47] because they are valuable in gathering information on consumers’ perspectives of services, especially regarding satisfaction, unmet/met service needs and the perceived impact of services [47].…”

“…Three studies in this section suggested that in-depth interviews are used to collect data from consumers of mental health services [19, 30, 34]. This approach is particularly important to explore the behaviour, subjective experiences and psychological processes; opinions, and perceptions of mental health services.…”