Objectives

The police-mental health co-response model has garnered support from both police and healthcare workers. It is praised for its ability to enhance crisis de-escalation, increase in-service referrals, and reduce pressure on the criminal legal system, and its cost-effectiveness relative to hospitalization. This study examines whether the police-mental health co-response team actually achieves the proclaimed goals in a suburban-rural community.

Methods

A total of 2809 police shifts were randomized into treatment and control groups, with 140 participants recruited. The study analyzed and compared the numbers of police contacts and mental health calls for service among participants in treatment and control shifts over a 12-month follow-up period.

Results

The results revealed no significant difference in the number of subsequent police contacts between the treatment and control groups. The findings were further complemented by insights gathered from focus group interviews.

Conclusions

In summary, implementing a co-response team shows promise for assisting individuals experiencing a mental health crisis, especially for police departments and service providers in non-urban areas. However, to achieve long-term effectiveness, it is crucial to identify strategies that reduce treatment attrition and enhance subsequent outcomes.

中文翻译：

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警察与临床医生共同应对城郊社区精神疾病患者：一项随机对照试验

目标

警察与心理健康共同应对模式得到了警察和医护人员的支持。它因其能够加强危机缓和、增加在职转诊、减轻刑事法律系统的压力以及相对于住院治疗的成本效益而受到赞扬。本研究检验了警察与心理健康共同应对小组是否真正实现了郊区农村社区所宣称的目标。

方法

共有 2809 名警察轮班被随机分为治疗组和对照组，共招募了 140 名参与者。该研究分析并比较了 12 个月的随访期间，治疗和控制班次参与者中与警方联系的数量以及心理健康求助电话的数量。

结果

结果显示，治疗组和对照组之间随后与警察接触的次数没有显着差异。从焦点小组访谈中收集到的见解进一步补充了研究结果。

结论

总之，建立共同应对小组有望帮助经历心理健康危机的个人，特别是对于非城市地区的警察部门和服务提供者。然而，为了实现长期有效性，确定减少治疗损耗并提高后续结果的策略至关重要。