Abstract
ObjectivesAccess to psychological treatments has been defined by Gulliford as comprising supply, effectiveness, equity and uptake. In the UK, a recent national programme “Improving Access to Psychological Treatments” has significantly increased supply and assessed effectiveness, but paid less attention to uptake and equity. The model developed by Gask et al. delineating processes relevant to improving access for ‘hard-to-engage’ groups in the UK, including black and minority groups seems relevant. This paper presents studies of a large-scale ‘community workshop’ intervention model developed by Brown to improve access for adults in the UK, designed to improve uptake and equity. We describe two ‘community workshop’ interventions for common mental health problems to which people have been able to self-refer and where uptake and equity have been high. Key components of this model are a ‘group-sensitive engagement’ ethos which includes self-referral, non-diagnostic titles of the intervention, a non-mental health setting, face-to-face presentation as well as a brief intervention and an acceptable format.ConclusionThe model of community workshops with its ‘group-sensitive engagement’ ethos to which adults can self-refer may be very relevant in providing access for people with mental health needs in national and international settings.Trial registration Classic ISRCTN26634837
Highlights
Since 2009 the UK Government has invested £400 million in psychological services so that the IAPT programme has dramatically increased the resources available to people with mental health problems
The model of community workshops with its ‘group-sensitive engagement’ ethos to which adults can self-refer may be very relevant in providing access for people with mental health needs in national and international settings
More than 1 million people were seen in IAPT services within the first 3 years of the IAPT programme, with more than 680,000 completing a full course of psychological therapy
Summary
Since 2009 the UK Government has invested £400 million in psychological services so that the IAPT programme has dramatically increased the resources available to people with mental health problems. Key targets have been an increased workforce trained to deliver cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) and other evidencebased treatments for common mental health problems as recommended in national clinical guidelines and good clinical outcomes [1]. More than 1 million people were seen in IAPT services within the first 3 years of the IAPT programme, with more than 680,000 completing a full course of psychological therapy. IAPT offers treatment to more than 900,000 service users each year, with a target for at least 1.5 million people to access psychological care each year by 2020/21 [2]
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