HoPe: Home Treatment and Peer Support for Acute Mental Health Crisis

HoPe: Home Delivered Peer Led Treatment vs Home Delivered Treatment - a Randomized Controlled Multicentre Trial

Home treatment (HT) is an effective treatment modality for patients with severe mental illness (SMI) in acute crisis that can often be considered equivalent to inpatient treatment in terms of treatment outcome. In Peer Support (PS) patients are supported by people with personal experiences in psychiatric crises. The current study investigates a combination of both approaches - a HT plus PS intervention - versus sole HT at different study sites throughout Germany. It is hypothesized that a peer-supported home-delivered treatment (HT plus PS) is more effective than a professional-led home-delivered treatment (HT alone) with respect to the time until hospital readmission, self-efficacy, psychosocial health, recovery orientation, internalized stigma and service satisfaction. Furthermore, it is hypothesized, that a peer-supported home delivered treatment (HT plus PS) is as effective as a professional-led home-delivered treatment (HT alone) with respect to disease severity and general functioning (secondary outcomes).

Inclusion Criteria:

• severe mental illness with indication of hospital admission (F2, F3, F6, F41, F42)

Exclusion Criteria:

• primary diagnosis of F0 or F1 (Mental disorders due to known physiological conditions; Mental and behavioral disorders due to psychoactive substance use)
• acute suicidality
• verbal or cognitive impairment severe enough to be unable to give informed consent