Article type
Year
Abstract
Background: Mental health and its different aspects are important in every society. Information about the effectiveness of treatments and interventions for different mental health conditions and problems is vital, not only for the efficient management of mental health care but also for satisfying the need of valid information among everyone affected and interested. Evidence-based information within the field of mental health is out there, but getting hold of this information is often a time consuming process, requiring skills, detective work and energy from the seeker of information.
Objective: The 3-year EU-PSI project was launched in September 2000 with the main objective to enhance access to and widely disseminate trial-derived evidence of mental health treatments and interventions, as well as to improve awareness of mental health issues among professional and non-professional consumers within and outside the mental health field. To reach this aim, two mental-health-specific information resources, the PsiTri database and the Mental Health Library.
Methods: The PsiTri database combines the registers of the five Cochrane Mental Health Groups into one, freely accessible web-based database on clinical trials of treatments and interventions within the field of mental health. The registers in themselves contain the best evidence available within the scope of each group, and in combining them, PsiTri offers a comprehensive tool for accessing trial evidence within a wide range of mental health conditions, including drug and alcohol addictions, anxiety, autism, behavioural problems such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder, cognitive impairment and improvement, dementia, depression, schizophrenia and neuroses to name a few. PsiTri uniquely emphasizes and brings forward information on the trial level - references belonging to the same trial are grouped together and linked to a specific report on different aspects of the trial, such as its design, blinding method, interventions, number of participants etc. PsiTri, which by the end of September 2003 will include information on all the trials in the Mental Health Groups' registers, approximately some 18 000, has since November 2001 been freely available on the Internet, at www.psitri.helsinki.fi. The project is also producing The Mental Health Library, which includes the PsiTri database, Cochrane systematic reviews, health economic evaluations, other appraisals of high quality research evidence and evidence-based guidelines in mental health. The prototype of the Mental Health Library is available now in electronic form.
Participants: The EU-PSI project is co-ordinated by University of Helsinki, Finland. The other partners in the project are the Cochrane Mental Health Groups (Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, Depression Anxiety & Neurosis Group, Drugs and Alcohol Group, Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Group and the Schizophrenia Group), University of York (York, UK), University of Ioannina (Ioannina, Greece), Technische Universität München (Munich, Germany) and Update Software (Oxford, UK). EU-PSI is funded by the European Commission's Quality of Life Programme and the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.
Objective: The 3-year EU-PSI project was launched in September 2000 with the main objective to enhance access to and widely disseminate trial-derived evidence of mental health treatments and interventions, as well as to improve awareness of mental health issues among professional and non-professional consumers within and outside the mental health field. To reach this aim, two mental-health-specific information resources, the PsiTri database and the Mental Health Library.
Methods: The PsiTri database combines the registers of the five Cochrane Mental Health Groups into one, freely accessible web-based database on clinical trials of treatments and interventions within the field of mental health. The registers in themselves contain the best evidence available within the scope of each group, and in combining them, PsiTri offers a comprehensive tool for accessing trial evidence within a wide range of mental health conditions, including drug and alcohol addictions, anxiety, autism, behavioural problems such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder, cognitive impairment and improvement, dementia, depression, schizophrenia and neuroses to name a few. PsiTri uniquely emphasizes and brings forward information on the trial level - references belonging to the same trial are grouped together and linked to a specific report on different aspects of the trial, such as its design, blinding method, interventions, number of participants etc. PsiTri, which by the end of September 2003 will include information on all the trials in the Mental Health Groups' registers, approximately some 18 000, has since November 2001 been freely available on the Internet, at www.psitri.helsinki.fi. The project is also producing The Mental Health Library, which includes the PsiTri database, Cochrane systematic reviews, health economic evaluations, other appraisals of high quality research evidence and evidence-based guidelines in mental health. The prototype of the Mental Health Library is available now in electronic form.
Participants: The EU-PSI project is co-ordinated by University of Helsinki, Finland. The other partners in the project are the Cochrane Mental Health Groups (Dementia and Cognitive Improvement Group, Depression Anxiety & Neurosis Group, Drugs and Alcohol Group, Developmental, Psychosocial and Learning Problems Group and the Schizophrenia Group), University of York (York, UK), University of Ioannina (Ioannina, Greece), Technische Universität München (Munich, Germany) and Update Software (Oxford, UK). EU-PSI is funded by the European Commission's Quality of Life Programme and the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.