Hepatitis C in Severe Mental Disorders: Nursing Programme

It has been described in the scientific literature that people diagnosed with serious mental disorders, such as psychosis and schizophrenia, have difficulties to access medical treatments for their physical illnesses, which produces excess mortality in this population.

This project will consist of three different parts. The first will be the detection and accurate diagnosis of hepatitis C (HCV) in the population diagnosed with a severe mental disorder (SMD). It will find the prevalence of people with infection who have not been diagnosed, as well as that of people diagnosed but who have not completed treatment. Likewise, the characteristics of the sample obtained and the risk factors associated with positive cases will be analyzed.

The second part of the study will consist of comparing the effectiveness of an individualized monitoring programme (NURSE-NAVIGATION PROGRAMME), carried out by the specialist mental health nurse, during the treatment of hepatitis C versus the usual health care.

In order to fulfill these first two objectives, a Clinical Pathway will be opened in which the Microbiology, Gastroenterology, Pharmacy and Mental Health services of the Regional University Hospital of Malaga will participate.

The third objective of the project will be to study how the presence of Hepatitis C influences psychotic symptoms, mainly negative ones, changes in daily functioning and changes in quality of life . For these purposes we will use the PANSS scale, a Quality of Life scale (the Life Skill Profile) and the Euroqol5D Health Questionaire before treatment and after verifying the effective cure of HCV.

A third and final evaluation with all the study variables will be carried out 6 months after starting the treatment. In addition, the disappearance of the viral load and, therefore, the patient's cure will be determined with a new blood test.