The evolution of a young adult population seeking help for mental illness and consequences for early intervention care proposal in an outpatient unit.
Poster A11, Thursday, October 20, 11:30 am - 1:00 pm, Le Baron
Maryse Badan Bâ1, Fabrice Chantraine1, Logos Curtis1; 1University Hospitals of Geneva
Our outpatient psychiatric unit (“JADE”) was initiated 15 years ago in Geneva. It provides evaluation and care to a help-seeking population of young adults that has evolved, as observed in centers in other countries. Initially used by first episode psychosis patients, JADE is now sought out by a heterogeneous population of younger patients, at earlier stages of mental illness, with less specific symptoms. This population often exhibits psycho-social integration difficulties and educational/professional under qualification. These observed changes may reflect societal modifications but also result from theoretical advances in conception of mental illness and consequent offered care as well as institutional constraints. In 2015, 152 patients (54 F; 98 M) were admitted for an evaluation of their clinical status although their primary motivation was often a need to find a training or professional position or by socio-economic concerns. We present their demographic and clinical characteristics, including diagnosis, and the care towards which they were oriented. Moreover, given the population changes, we focus on questions that arise about the organization of the unit, the type of psychotherapeutic interventions and the resources needed to restore patient’s psycho-social integration. We observed multiple consequences from this evolution, some of them unexpected. For example, one change saw many more patients expect to start a job concomitantly to their admission to the JADE therapeutic program. We pinpoint some challenges resulting from this evolving situation and debate the alternatives that can be taken in account to provide adapted responses to current and future users’ demands.
Topic Area: Diagnosis and Phenomenology