Psychiatric care research deals with the questions of whether treatment programs are helpful and whether the care provided to those affected is sufficient, appropriate and rational.

Mental illness can prevent those affected from seeking help. The stigmatization that usually accompanies such an illness may make seeking help even more difficult.

The results of psychiatric care research are intended to improve care for the population and facilitate access to help.

Therefore, the topics of psychiatric health services research are

• the evaluation of forms and structures of care,

• the development, testing and implementation of documentation and survey instruments to describe care

• the design and evaluation of specific treatment measures and elements

• the analysis of the utilization behavior of mentally ill people and their relatives.

The working group's current focus project is early intervention in cases of imminent incapacity to work due to mental illness.

Past projects:

• Integrated care in psychiatry according to §140a SGB V - hospital-avoiding and hospital-replacing outpatient treatment

• Regional inventory of geriatric psychiatric care in Lower Saxony

• Predictors of care needs in outpatient psychiatric treatment - an empirical study

• Possibilities of outpatient DRG formation

• Mortality and early retirement in anxiety disorders and depression among employees

• Development of a predictor model for mortality in addictive disorders - early identification of foreseeable bad outcomes

The projects were funded by the state of Lower Saxony, AOK Niedersachen, BKK Landesverband Niedersachsen, DAK and Hannover Rück SE.