Cochrane Systematic Review

Title: Collaborative care approaches for people with severe mental illness
Good to know: Approximately 5 out of every 1,000 people are affected by a severe mental illness such as schizophrenia. Over the past decades, community-based collaborative care approaches have been developed and tested for these individuals. These models aim to promote interdisciplinary cooperation between primary and secondary healthcare services to improve the mental and/or physical health of people with severe mental illness.
In their various comparisons, the authors were unable to demonstrate that collaborative care was superior to standard care with regard to the primary outcomes (quality of life, mental state, and psychiatric admissions) over a period of up to 12 months. However, they note that the certainty of the evidence is very low to low.
Limitations: No information is available on potential harms.
Evidence: Cochrane Review (publication in May 2024); inclusion of 8 studies with 1,165 participants; comparison between collaborative and standard care, focusing on outcomes such as quality of life, mental state, and psychiatric admissions after 12 months.