Towards community-based and recovery-oriented care for severe mental disorders in Southern and Eastern Europe: aims and design of a multi-country implementation and evaluation study (RECOVER-E)

Abstract

Background: Substantial strides have been made around the world in reforming mental health systems by shifting away from institutional care towards community-based services. Despite an extensive evidence base on what constitutes effective care for people with severe mental ill-health, many people in Europe do not have access to optimal mental health care. In an effort to consolidate previous efforts to improve community mental health care and support the complex transition from hospital-based to community-based care delivery, the RECOVER-E (LaRge-scalE implementation of COmmunity based mental health care for people with seVere and Enduring mental ill health in EuRopE) project aims to implement and evaluate multidisciplinary community mental health teams in five countries in Central and Eastern Europe. This paper provides a brief overview of the RECOVER-E project and its methods. Methods: Five implementation sites were selected (

Perceived Support for Recovery and Level of Functioning Among People With Severe Mental Illness in Central and Eastern Europe: An Observational Study

“…This study is based on the RECOVER-E project “ Large-scale implementation of community-based mental health care for people with severe and enduring mental ill health in Europe ” ( 38 ). The project was initiated in 2018 and includes five randomized trials evaluating the (cost-) effectiveness and implementation of community-based mental healthcare for people with severe mental illness (SMI) across five sites in Eastern and Central Europe.…”

“…The project was initiated in 2018 and includes five randomized trials evaluating the (cost-) effectiveness and implementation of community-based mental healthcare for people with severe mental illness (SMI) across five sites in Eastern and Central Europe. Among service users, it involves measurements at three time points: baseline, 12-months follow up, and 18-months follow up ( 38 ). A detailed description of the RECOVER-E project can be found elsewhere ( 38 ).…”

Recovery-oriented practices and role perceptions of healthcare staff providing community-based mental healthcare as team in Central and Eastern Europe: an observational study

“…The research presented in this manuscript is part of the RECOVER-E project, a European research project with ve patient-randomized trials on the implementation of community-based mental healthcare for people SMI (23). In each of the ve sites, the study was designed as a clinical and health-economic evaluation on the basis of a hybrid effectiveness-implementation trial, which assesses both implementation outcomes and patient health outcomes.…”

“…Community mental health teams were established and implemented in Croatia, Zagreb; Montenegro, Kotor; Romania, Siret; North Macedonia, Skopje; and Bulgaria, So a (Table 1). The full rationale and selection criteria for these sites is described in a prior publication (23).…”

“…Furthermore, most people with SMI favour recovery-oriented healthcare services provided in their community in order to participate in social life and sustain employment (13,15,16). These insights have led to the design and implementation of CMHTs for providing inclusive mental healthcare based on the recovery-oriented approach and social support in ve sites in ve Central and Eastern European countries within the Large-scale implementation of community-based mental health care for people with severe and enduring mental ill health in Europe project (RECOVER-E) (23). The ultimate aim of the RECOVER-E project is to implement and evaluate multidisciplinary CMHTs delivering care in a recovery-oriented way to people with SMI and compare it to the treatment as usual on three levels: 1) patients outcome, 2) team members; and 3) socioeconomic evaluation (23).…”