Investigation of the Communication Network Among Mental Health Services: The Case of a Community Mental Health Care Center in Attica

Abstract

Decentralization of mental health services and a model of community-based treatment is the result of the implementation of the psychiatric reform initiated in Greece over the last decades [1]. The development of an organized network of psychiatric and psychosocial care in Primary Health Care (PHC) has been desirable in health care policy agendas in many countries, as well as in Greece [2,3]. In this model of care, the services for people with mental illnesses are provided by a multidisciplinary community mental health team and constitute a cost-effective method of delivering care [4]. The integration of all these services within the primary health care into a structured cooperation remains a prerequisite to achieve the current trends of psychiatry [5].