Care provision to prevent chronic disease by community mental health clinicians

People with a mental illness have higher prevalence of behavioral risks for chronic disease than the general population. Despite recommendations regarding the provision of preventive care by mental health services, limited research has examined the extent to which such care is provided.

To examine mental health clinician provision of care for preventable chronic disease risks, and whether such care was associated with the availability of practice support strategies.

A cross-sectional survey was undertaken of 151 community mental health clinicians in New South Wales, Australia regarding the provision of three elements of preventive care (i.e., assessment, brief advice, and referral/follow-up) for four health risk behaviors (i.e., tobacco smoking, inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption, harmful alcohol consumption, and inadequate physical activity). Clinicians reported the availability of 16 strategies to support such care delivery. Data were collected in 2010 and analyzed in 2012-2013.

Preventive care provision varied by both care element and risk behavior. Optimal care (each care element provided to at least 80% of clients for all health behaviors) was provided by few clinicians: assessment (8.6%), brief advice (24.5%), and referral/follow-up (9.9%). Less than half of clinicians reported more than four support strategies were available (44.4%). The availability of five or more strategies was associated with increased optimal preventive care.

The provision of preventive care focused on chronic disease prevention in community mental health services is suboptimal. Interventions to increase the routine provision of such care should involve increasing the availability of evidence-based strategies to support care provision.