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Assessing the Integration of Behavioral Health Services in Primary Care in Colombia

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Abstract

Integration of behavioral health care into primary care can improve health and economic outcomes. This study adapted the Behavioral Health Integration in Medical Care (BHIMC) index to the Colombian context and assessed the baseline level of behavioral health integration in a sample of primary care organizations. The BHIMC was able to detect the capacity to provide integrated behavioral care in Colombian settings. Results indicate a minimal to partial integration level across all sites, and that it is possible to measure the degree of integrated care capacity and identify improvement areas for better behavioral health care provision.

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Funding

This research was supported via a grant from the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (Bethesda, MD, USA, Grant No. 1U19MH109988-01; Multiple Principal Investigators: Lisa A. Marsch, Ph.D. and Carlos Gómez-Restrepo, MD). The contents are solely the opinion of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the NIH or the United States Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Epidemiología Clínica y Bioestadística, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia

    Sergio M. Castro, Magda Cepeda & Carlos Gómez-Restrepo

  2. Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA

    Leonardo Cubillos, Andrea Meier, Sophia M. Bartels & Lisa A. Marsch

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, USA

    Leonardo Cubillos

  4. Departamento de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia

    José Miguel Uribe-Restrepo & Carlos Gómez-Restrepo

  5. Instituto de Genética Humana, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá, Colombia

    Fernando Suárez-Obando

  6. Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

    John A. Naslund

  7. Center for Global Mental Health Research, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA

    Makeda J. Williams

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA

    William C. Torrey

  9. Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, Bogotá, Colombia

    Carlos Gómez-Restrepo

Authors
  1. Sergio M. Castro
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  2. Leonardo Cubillos
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  3. José Miguel Uribe-Restrepo
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  4. Fernando Suárez-Obando
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  5. Andrea Meier
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  6. John A. Naslund
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  7. Sophia M. Bartels
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  8. Makeda J. Williams
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  9. Magda Cepeda
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  10. William C. Torrey
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  11. Lisa A. Marsch
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  12. Carlos Gómez-Restrepo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sergio M. Castro.

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Conflicts of interest

All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This research project was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Dartmouth College in the United States of America and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Colombia.

Informed Consent

It is important to note that in this project a treatment intervention was not tested, patients were not interviewed individually, and no personal information or confidential data were requested; instead, clinical and administrative staff were collectively interviewed about the program, and data collection related to the program, not to its staff or subjects. Dartmouth College’s and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana’s IRBs determined that informed consent was not necessary.

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Castro, S.M., Cubillos, L., Uribe-Restrepo, J.M. et al. Assessing the Integration of Behavioral Health Services in Primary Care in Colombia. Adm Policy Ment Health 47, 435–442 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-019-01002-4

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