Ascertaining social worker contacts in routine mental healthcare and describing their distribution: a descriptive analysis of electronic records data from a large south London mental healthcare provider
Objectives To describe the distribution of contacts with mental health service-employed social workers over time and by patient characteristics using routine mental health service data resources.Design A descriptive study.Setting and participants In a large secondary mental healthcare provider in Lo...
Saved in:
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMJ Publishing Group
2025-03-01
|
| Series: | BMJ Open |
| Online Access: | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/3/e090055.full |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| _version_ | 1850208810019323904 |
|---|---|
| author | Robert Stewart Amelia Jewell Gayan Perera Norah Alothman |
| author_facet | Robert Stewart Amelia Jewell Gayan Perera Norah Alothman |
| author_sort | Robert Stewart |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objectives To describe the distribution of contacts with mental health service-employed social workers over time and by patient characteristics using routine mental health service data resources.Design A descriptive study.Setting and participants In a large secondary mental healthcare provider in London serving a geographic catchment of around 1.3 million residents, mental health social worker contacts were ascertained from the case note entries for all patients aged 16 years or above at the time of contact who received treatment in any services from 2008 to 2023.Main outcome measures Patient demographic and clinical characteristics at or closest to the social worker contact event.Results A total 1 541 078 social worker contacts were extracted. Contacts were most likely in the 20–39 years age group (38.1%), in men (51.9%), in patients from white (45.3%) and black (38.8%) ethnic groups, in those who were non-cohabiting (89.9%) and in those living in more deprived neighbourhoods. The most likely diagnosis in those receiving social work contacts was schizophrenia (39.2%). Males had the highest number of face-to-face social worker contacts, and females were more represented in phone and video contacts. Over the past 16 years, social worker contacts were highest between 2014 and 2015.Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first quantification of social work deployment within mental healthcare. Research into the role of social workers within mental health services has been of small scale and predominantly qualitative to date. However, growing data resources, building on distributions of service provision, present important opportunities for wider evaluation of the role of this professional group and the interventions they support within multidisciplinary teams. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-f0ff3ae2617f448f9f82261ada89d16d |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2044-6055 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | BMJ Publishing Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | BMJ Open |
| spelling | doaj-art-f0ff3ae2617f448f9f82261ada89d16d2025-08-20T02:10:09ZengBMJ Publishing GroupBMJ Open2044-60552025-03-0115310.1136/bmjopen-2024-090055Ascertaining social worker contacts in routine mental healthcare and describing their distribution: a descriptive analysis of electronic records data from a large south London mental healthcare providerRobert Stewart0Amelia Jewell1Gayan Perera2Norah Alothman3Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UKNIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, London, UKDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UKDepartment of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry Psychology & Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, UKObjectives To describe the distribution of contacts with mental health service-employed social workers over time and by patient characteristics using routine mental health service data resources.Design A descriptive study.Setting and participants In a large secondary mental healthcare provider in London serving a geographic catchment of around 1.3 million residents, mental health social worker contacts were ascertained from the case note entries for all patients aged 16 years or above at the time of contact who received treatment in any services from 2008 to 2023.Main outcome measures Patient demographic and clinical characteristics at or closest to the social worker contact event.Results A total 1 541 078 social worker contacts were extracted. Contacts were most likely in the 20–39 years age group (38.1%), in men (51.9%), in patients from white (45.3%) and black (38.8%) ethnic groups, in those who were non-cohabiting (89.9%) and in those living in more deprived neighbourhoods. The most likely diagnosis in those receiving social work contacts was schizophrenia (39.2%). Males had the highest number of face-to-face social worker contacts, and females were more represented in phone and video contacts. Over the past 16 years, social worker contacts were highest between 2014 and 2015.Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first quantification of social work deployment within mental healthcare. Research into the role of social workers within mental health services has been of small scale and predominantly qualitative to date. However, growing data resources, building on distributions of service provision, present important opportunities for wider evaluation of the role of this professional group and the interventions they support within multidisciplinary teams.https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/3/e090055.full |
| spellingShingle | Robert Stewart Amelia Jewell Gayan Perera Norah Alothman Ascertaining social worker contacts in routine mental healthcare and describing their distribution: a descriptive analysis of electronic records data from a large south London mental healthcare provider BMJ Open |
| title | Ascertaining social worker contacts in routine mental healthcare and describing their distribution: a descriptive analysis of electronic records data from a large south London mental healthcare provider |
| title_full | Ascertaining social worker contacts in routine mental healthcare and describing their distribution: a descriptive analysis of electronic records data from a large south London mental healthcare provider |
| title_fullStr | Ascertaining social worker contacts in routine mental healthcare and describing their distribution: a descriptive analysis of electronic records data from a large south London mental healthcare provider |
| title_full_unstemmed | Ascertaining social worker contacts in routine mental healthcare and describing their distribution: a descriptive analysis of electronic records data from a large south London mental healthcare provider |
| title_short | Ascertaining social worker contacts in routine mental healthcare and describing their distribution: a descriptive analysis of electronic records data from a large south London mental healthcare provider |
| title_sort | ascertaining social worker contacts in routine mental healthcare and describing their distribution a descriptive analysis of electronic records data from a large south london mental healthcare provider |
| url | https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/15/3/e090055.full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT robertstewart ascertainingsocialworkercontactsinroutinementalhealthcareanddescribingtheirdistributionadescriptiveanalysisofelectronicrecordsdatafromalargesouthlondonmentalhealthcareprovider AT ameliajewell ascertainingsocialworkercontactsinroutinementalhealthcareanddescribingtheirdistributionadescriptiveanalysisofelectronicrecordsdatafromalargesouthlondonmentalhealthcareprovider AT gayanperera ascertainingsocialworkercontactsinroutinementalhealthcareanddescribingtheirdistributionadescriptiveanalysisofelectronicrecordsdatafromalargesouthlondonmentalhealthcareprovider AT norahalothman ascertainingsocialworkercontactsinroutinementalhealthcareanddescribingtheirdistributionadescriptiveanalysisofelectronicrecordsdatafromalargesouthlondonmentalhealthcareprovider |