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International Center of Mental Health Policy and Economics |
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INTERDISCIPLINARY POSTGRADUATE TRAINING IN MENTAL HEALTH POLICY AND ECONOMICS RESEARCH |
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SECTION
COMMITTEE SECRETARIAT
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| Introduction | ||
The Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training in Mental Health Policy and Economics Research represents a significant innovation in the international development of high quality interdisciplinary research training in health policy and economics: it underlines the importance of considering the characteristics of the illnesses and of the individual medical specialties when research aimed at informing health policies and services financing strategies is developed. The training offers to the different participants in the field of mental health policy and economics (psychiatrists involved in research and care and other mental health workers, health services researchers, health economists, policy makers, public and private health providers, advocacy groups, and the pharmaceutical industry) a rigorous, structured, introductory, interactive research training program . The Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training in Mental Health Policy and Economics Research is aimed at offering high quality international research training infrastructure to support:
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| Burden of Mental and Addictive Disorders | ||
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| Mental Health Policy and Economics Research | ||
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Mental health policy and economics research provides crucially needed information, including estimates of the socio-economic burden of psychiatric disorders, evidence of the costs and effectiveness of treatments, and information about the cost-effectiveness of new ways of coordinating the clinical and social interventions. In addition, research based information is needed to determine the benefits of different financing and reimbursement policies in bringing about desired changes in the management of mental and addictive disorders. This research is important in enabling governments to contain health system costs while improving the health and the productivity of the population. The development of multidisciplinary research during the last 25 years led to the rapid evolution of sound methodologies for applying economic analyses to the mental health care sector. This research has fundamentally altered the way decisions about mental health policy and treatments are made, especially in countries, such as the United States, with a large body of research studies. These research studies provide policymakers with extensive information on a wide-range of issues including:
Many of these
studies have influenced psychiatric policies internationally. They
demonstrated that mental and addictive disorders can frequently be treated
successfully, with either full recovery or reduced disability, and that not
financing treatment imposes substantial economic costs on society due to the
reduced or complete inability to work of patients or their relatives.
Economic evaluations of treatments for mental disorders have developed
awareness in many countries that treatments must not only be considered in
terms of their safety and efficacy, but also in terms of treatment costs and
potential cost-savings when compared to other treatments already available.
These studies help policymakers and providers choose the best treatments to
maximize health benefits while containing costs. This research also has had a
profound influence on mental health reforms to provide treatment for those
with severe and persistent mental illnesses in the community rather than in
asylums or hospitals. They scientifically demonstrated that many patients can
be treated in the community in an equally cost-effective manner, if the array
of financial, clinical and social services that is needed to support and
assist these particularly vulnerable individuals in the community is fully
established. When policymakers could not rely on sound research data,
neglect, homelessness, violence, and suicide were frequent consequence of
uninformed deinstitutionalization policies. |
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| Reasons of the Innovative Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training | ||
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Systematic interdisciplinary research training in mental health policy and economics research is unavailable in most countries. As a consequence, key policy decisions must either be informed by the few high quality research studies elsewhere (with limited applicability), or without research data at all. The Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training in Mental Health Policy and Economics Research seeks to fill this gap by providing a systematic introductory program of training courses in mental health policy and economics research, a research field to be developed in quality and quantity in the world. A number of countries are currently undertaking substantial reforms of their mental health care and social services delivery and financing systems. Decision-making in public and private organizations requires science-based mental health policy and economic research studies in this reform process. This type of research has increasingly demonstrating its importance in informing decision-makers on the repercussions of these illnesses on patients, families, workplace and society, and on the impact of clinical, social, policy, financial interventions on health, quality of life and economic well-being of these vulnerable populations. These studies are critical in learning how to design cost-effective systems to improve the lives of those with mental and addictive disorders and their families. Obtaining sound scientific information in this field requires interdisciplinary collaboration among psychiatrists, psychologists, health economists, and public health researchers. This integrated approach brings together the strengths of each field to provide the best possible information to support the complex policy decisions regarding mental health care that confront governments. The Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training in Mental Health Policy and Economics Research provides an integrated, coherent approach to training and developing new researchers in the field of mental health policy and economics involving an integrated, interactive program of introductory training courses with the aims of enabling them:
The proposed training approach efficiently and consistently coordinates a number of events to offer new researchers the core skills they will need to conduct their own mental health policy and economics research along with the complementary skills needed to enhance their research career. Through this integrated training program, participants receive a comprehensive high quality introductory education, extensive personal interaction with international authorities in the field and with peers from the US, Europe and other countries, forming the basis for international collaborative research. The program is particularly innovative in its interdisciplinary approach, which is critical in this research field, and in providing systematic research education and training to participants from countries with limited or no existing opportunities for such training. The participants will have the opportunity to interact with recognized distinguished authorities in the field of research grant application, research development, research publication, and research presentation. The design of the training program provides participants with significant opportunities to build contacts for further research with leading authorities in the field and with other researchers from the US, EU and other countries. It will also enable participants to collaborate with researchers of other disciplines not only during the training program, but build contacts to collaborate in future research projects. The courses rely on an integrated, coherent approach to training and developing new researchers in the field of mental health policy ad economics The proposed courses will:
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| Structure of the Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training | ||
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The Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training in Mental Health Policy and Economics Research relies on an integrated, coherent approach to training and developing new researchers in the field of mental health policy ad economics.. INTERDISCIPLINARY TRAINING Leading international authorities from the different core disciplines of the field (psychiatry, psychology, economics, health policy, services research) will serve as instructors for the formal in-person courses. The teachers have been distinguished speakers at international congresses, have published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals, have relevant experience in academic education and training. This course provides an interdisciplinary, introductory approach to the core components of the field. It will develop a common, "core" set of information and expertise that is needed by all researchers, regardless of discipline, to conduct research in this area and to communicate with one another in a common language. The participants will be trained in each of the core components of the field of mental health policy and economics and provided a picture of how the disciplines relate to each other and are integrated to produce high quality research in this field. The participants will learn what each discipline contributes (principally clinical, health services analysis, health economics, health policy, study design and methods) in joint research projects development. It will enable participants both to refine the contribution of their specific discipline and to develop awareness of when they need to rely on collaboration with informed researchers from other disciplines to design and conduct a "sound" research project. .
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| 2006 - Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training | ||
The 2006 edition of the Training combined traditional (Venice, Italy, July 2006) and internet based training. Please, visit the Evaluation Scores assigned by the attendees.
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| 2008 - Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training |
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The 2008 edition of the Training combined traditional (Venice, Italy, July 2008) and internet based training. Please, visit the Evaluation Scores assigned by the attendees.
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| 2010- Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Training | |||||||||||||||||
The 2006 and 2008 editions of the Training were exceptionally appreciated by the attendees, but in order to enable greater access for clinicians and researchers from the various countries of the world the WPA Section on Mental Health Economics has been developing an interactive internet-based training. In 2010, the entire training will be conducted through the website www.icmpe.org. ONLINE TRAINING MATERIAL The Training material will be available in advance to the Participants on the ICMPE website (through password) at www.icmpe.org upon registration. ONLINE INTERACTIVE EVENTS – July 2010 To preserve the very positive interactions between the participants and the teachers, and among the participants themselves, each teacher will hold specific interactive events during July 2010 in which there will be a "real time" interactive online discussion with the participants (i.e. interactive discussion about the training material, exercises to be developed by groups of participants, etc.). 2010 - TRAINING PROGRAM This course provides an interdisciplinary, introductory approach to the core components of the field of mental health policy and economics research to Participants. Leading international authorities from the different core disciplines of the field (psychiatry, psychology, economics, health policy, services research) will serve as instructors for the formal courses. They have been distinguished speakers at international congresses, have published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals, and have long experience in academic education and training. The course will develop a common, "core" set of information and expertise that is needed by all researchers, regardless of discipline, to conduct research in this area and to communicate with one another in a common language. The Participants will be trained in each of the core components of the field of mental health policy and economics and provided a picture of how the disciplines relate to each other and are integrated to produce high quality research in this field. The Participants will learn what each discipline contributes (principally clinical, health services analysis, health economics, health policy, study design and methods) in joint research projects development. It will enable participants both to refine the contribution of their specific discipline and to develop awareness of when they need to rely on collaboration with informed researchers from other disciplines to design and conduct a "sound" research project. The training material and the related references referring to the issues that each instructor will cover, are available to the Participants through password on the ICMPE website at www.icmpe.org upon registration. It will enable participants to receive substantial information prior of their interactive course in July 2010. Mapping of Mental Health Resources within Countries Mental Health Policy, Services and Evaluation Research Economic Evaluation for Health Care Decision Making Mental Health Financing Policy and Outcome Analysis Evaluation for Mental Health Interventions
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| INFORMATION | |||||||||||||||||
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InternationalCenter of Mental Health
Policy and Economics (ICMPE) The official language of the Training is English WEBSITE ICMPE website at www.icmpe.org SCHEDULE INTERACTIVE ONLINE TRAINING The interactive online training events will be held at www.icmpe.org during July 7-28, 2010.
REGISTRATION The principal aim of the Training is to provide access to outstanding and innovative international training in mental health policy and economics for researchers of academies and no-profit institutions. Special fees are available to researchers from these institutions in order to facilitate access to the Training. The Full fee is required for participants who are not eligible for the Special Fees (i.e., for-profit institutions).
* It includes password online access at www.icmpe.org FELLOWSHIPS Nominations,
together with a career summary of the applicant should be sent to:
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ICMPE
Via Daniele Crespi, 7
20123 Milano, Italy
fax: +39-02-5810 6901
email to: info@icmpe.org
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