Hepatitis C in Severe Mental Disorders: Nursing Programme

Summary

It has been described in the scientific literature that people diagnosed with serious mental disorders, such as psychosis and schizophrenia, have difficulties to access medical treatments for their physical illnesses, which produces excess mortality in this population.

This project will consist of three different parts. The first will be the detection and accurate diagnosis of hepatitis C (HCV) in the population diagnosed with a severe mental disorder (SMD). It will find the prevalence of people with infection who have not been diagnosed, as well as that of people diagnosed but who have not completed treatment. Likewise, the characteristics of the sample obtained and the risk factors associated with positive cases will be analyzed.

The second part of the study will consist of comparing the effectiveness of an individualized monitoring programme (NURSE-NAVIGATION PROGRAMME), carried out by the specialist mental health nurse, during the treatment of hepatitis C versus the usual health care.

In order to fulfill these first two objectives, a Clinical Pathway will be opened in which the Microbiology, Gastroenterology, Pharmacy and Mental Health services of the Regional University Hospital of Malaga will participate.

The third objective of the project will be to study how the presence of Hepatitis C influences psychotic symptoms, mainly negative ones, changes in daily functioning and changes in quality of life . For these purposes we will use the PANSS scale, a Quality of Life scale (the Life Skill Profile) and the Euroqol5D Health Questionaire before treatment and after verifying the effective cure of HCV.

A third and final evaluation with all the study variables will be carried out 6 months after starting the treatment. In addition, the disappearance of the viral load and, therefore, the patient's cure will be determined with a new blood test.

Conditions

• Hepatitis C
• Severe Mental Disorder

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Nursing monitoring program

A clinical pathway will be activate that allows all the necessary interventions, once the person is diagnosed, to be carried out on the same day, and a mental health nursing team will monitor the entire process.

BEHAVIORAL

As usual

Referral to the family doctor for a request for follow-up by the gastroenterologist. The specialist prescribes the tests for the definitive diagnosis that will take place in other units (with their corresponding appointments). After this, the patient will return to the specialist to establish the treatment to follow. Pharmacological treatment will be dispensed at the hospital pharmacy (collected once a month until completion of treatment and confirmation of cure). This last step of the treatment will be done in a new consultation at the gastroenterology service after blood tests to verify the disappearance of the viral load.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Malaga

  collaborator OTHER

• Gilead Sciences

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Instituto de Investigacion Biomedica de Malaga

  collaborator OTHER

• Hospital Regional de Malaga

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• María Magdalena Hurtado, PhD · Regional Hospital of Málaga, Spain.

• Celia Martí-García, PhD · Faculty of Health Sciences. University of Málaga, Spain

• José Miguel Morales-Asencio, PhD · Faculty of Health Sciences. University of Málaga, Spain.

• Casta Quemada · Regional Hospital of Málaga, Spain.

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-06-01

Primary Completion

2023-12-31

Completion

2023-12-31

Countries

• Spain

Study Locations