Wiegand/Hölzel group

Mental health services and outcome research

Group Leader

Group members

• M.Sc. Josephine Berger
• M.Sc. Ronja Husemann
• M.Sc. Sophia Hütter
• Dr. med. Nicoletta Momtahen
• M.Sc. Psych. Vanessa Pantle
• M.Sc. Psych. Dirk Riedinger
• M.Sc. Francesca Uhl
• cand. med. Antra Erdekian
• cand. med. Mandy Fehr
• cand. med. Miriam Glock
• cand. med. Sofija Jelic

Major research topics

Our research aims at analyzing health care of individuals with mental disorders in Germany in order to identify potentials for improvement. Additionally, we are developing, evaluating and implementing interventions to optimize mental health care. Current projects:

1. DECIDE Use Case Psychiatry:

In the BMBF founded DECIDE project we aim at developing IT solutions for the digitalisation and exchange of relevant clinical data in Psychiatry; digital decision support for complex case constellations, initially on the basis of a digital knowledge base and later based on machine learning making use of previous case constellations. The IT solutions will be compatible with current software solutions and standards for electronic patient records and linked with a patient app for shared therapy planning and therapy response monitoring.

2. Challenges of healthcare systems in long-term crises and disasters

In this area of work, we are investigating challenges of mental health care in long-term crises and disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the flood disaster in the Ahr valley region in 2021 - an example of a disaster in the context of climate change. We are working on structural recommendations for a better crisis preparedness of the mental health care system.In a second area of work, we are coordinating the S3 guideline project "Mental health of healthcare professionals in long-term crises and disasters" as part of the BMBF-funded PREPARED project of the German Network University Medicine (NUM).During the COVID-19 pandemic, (psychological) distress of healthcare workers and the associated intention to leave have proven to be key challenges for a crisis resilient healthcare system, against which a variety of measures have been proposed and tested. The S3 guideline project aims at providing evidence-based recommendations on which measures at the institutional level (conditional prevention), training and health education, as well as at the individual level (behavioural prevention) can help maintaining and promoting mental health of healthcare workers during long-term crises and disasters.

3. Measuring and managing therapeutic processes and outcomes in inpatient depression, personality disorder and PTSD treatment

This project aims at developing and implementing a system for systematically capturing therapeutic processes and outcomes in inpatient care. In explorative analyses, we try to identify markers of therapy response and potentials for optimizing therapy.

4. Change, challenges, and good practice solutions in the mental healthcare system during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the egePan Unimed project of the national academic research network (Nationales Netzwerk Universitätsmedizin) we cover change, challenges and good practice solutions within in the German mental health care system in the COVID-19 pandemic. In the COVID-Ψ studies, we survey psychiatric-psychotherapeutic (COVID-Ψ psychiatry study) and psychosomatic-psychotherapeutic (COVID-Ψ psychosomatics study) inpatient institutions, as well as outpatient psychiatrists and neurologists (COVID-Ψ ambulant study) about changes in utilization, challenges and difficulties, and good-practice solutions during the pandemic. In the COVID-Ψ routine data studies, we examine changes in care delivery and utilization in both the outpatient and inpatient mental healthcare systems in routine health insurance data.

Research collaborations

• Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM, Kaiserslautern
• BARMER Health Services Research, Wuppertal
• Nationales Netzwerk Universitätsmedizin (NUM), PREPARED
• Prof. Dr. Mathias Berger, Freiburg
• Prof. Dr. Andrea Chmitorz, Esslingen
• PD Dr. Kristina Adorjan, Global Mental Health, Klinik für Psychiatrie und Psychotherapie, LMU München
• MCS Datalabs, Berlin

Funding

• Nationales Netzwerk Universitätsmedizin (NUM) PREPARED, founded by BMBF
• DECIDE, founded by BMBF

Key publications

• Wiegand HF, Fehr M, Glock M, Rueb M, Roth-Sackenheim C, Köhler S, Pogarell O, Horster S, Geschke K, Tüscher O, Lieb K, Falkai P, Hölzel LP & Adorjan K (2023) [COVID-19 vaccination for people with severe mental diseases : Results of the COVID Ψ outpatient survey and recommendations for psychiatry]. Der Nervenarzt 1–6
• Wiegand HF, Maicher B, Rueb M, Wessels P, Besteher B, Hellwig S, Pfennig A, Rohner, H, Unterecker S, Hölzel LP, Philipsen A, Domschke K, Falkai, P, Lieb, K, Adorjan K (2022) COVID-19 vaccination rates in hospitalized mentally ill patients compared to the general population in Germany – results from the COVID Ψ Vac study. Eur Psychiatry. 2022 Jun 28;65(1):e41.
• Wiegand HF, Bröcker A-L, Fehr M, Lohmann N, Maicher B, Röthe N, Rueb M, Wessels P, de Greck M, Pfennig A, Unterecker S, Tüscher O, Walter H, Falkai P, Lieb K, Hölzel LP and Adorjan K (2022) Changes and Challenges in Inpatient Mental Health Care During the First Two High Incidence Phases of the COVID-19 Pandemic in Germany - Results From the COVID Ψ Psychiatry Survey. Front Psychiatry. 13:855040.
• Wiegand HF, Saam J, Marschall U, Chmitorz A, Kriston L, Berger M, Lieb K, Hölzel LP (2020) Challenges in the transition from in-patient to out-patient treatment in depression—an analysis of administrative health care data from a large German health insurer. Deutsches Ärzteblatt international, 117:472-9.
• Bjerregaard F., Zech J., Frank F., Hüll M., Stieglitz R.D., Hölzel L. (2018). Implementierbarkeit des GermanIMPACT Collaborative Care Programms zur Unterstützung der hausärztlichen Versorgung älterer depressiver Menschen - eine qualitative Interviewstudie. Zeitschrift für Evidenz, Fortbildung und Qualität im Gesundheitswesen, 134, 42-48.
• Hölzel LP, Bjerregaard F, Bleich C, Boczor S, Härter M, König HH, Kloppe T, Niebling W, Scherer M, Tinsel I, Hüll M (2018) Coordinated Treatment of Depression in Elderly People in Primary Care. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2018 Nov 2;115(44):741-747.
• Wiegand HF, Godemann F (2017) Increased treatment complexity for Major Depressive Disorder for inpatients with comorbid personality disorder. Psychiatric Services, 68(5):524-527.
• Frank F., Gräder N., Dahlmann H., Berger M., Hölzel L.P. (2017). Bereitschaft zur Inanspruchnahme internetbasierter Unterstützung nach stationärer Behandlung – eine Querschnittstudie. Psychiatrische Praxis, 45, 214-218.
• Wiegand HF, Sievers C, Schillinger M, Godemann F (2016) Major depression treatment in Germany–descriptive analysis of health insurance fund routine data and assessment of guideline-adherence. Journal of Affective Disorders, 189, 246–253.
• Hölzel L.P., Ries Z., Kriston L., Dirmaier J., Zill J.M., Rummel-Kluge C., Niebling W., Bermejo I. & Härter M. (2016). Effects of culture-sensitive adaptation of patient information material on usefulness in migrants: a multicentre, blinded randomized controlled trial. BMJ Open, 6:e012008.
• Frank F., Rummel-Kluge C., Berger M., Bitzer EM., Hölzel L.P. (2014). Provision of group psychoeducation for relatives of persons in inpatient depression treatment - a cross-sectional survey of acute care hospitals in Germany. BMC Psychiatry, 14, 143.