Satisfaction and needs in serious mental illness and autism spectrum disorder: the REHABase psychosocial rehabilitation project

Abstract

Objective: The REHABase project is a French observational, prospective, and multicenter cohort study of serious mental illness and autism spectrum disorder (ASD), launched in 2016 for a planned minimum duration of 15 years. The aim is to characterize the care and quality-of-life needs of participants. This article presents initial results from data collection. Methods: Psychosocial, cognitive, and functional data were collected at baseline, annually, and after rehabilitation care. Data from the baseline evaluation on diagnoses, medications, well-being, insight, life satisfaction, and care needs are presented. The clinical profiles of REHABase participants with serious mental illness or ASD were assessed in relation to their level of satisfaction with life and well-being in nine life dimensions and their needs, according to their stage of recovery in a five-stage model. Results: Baseline data were collected for 1,397 participants between January 2016 and August 2018. Main diagnoses were schizophrenia spectrum disorder (49%); ASD (13%); and personality (12%), bipolar (9%), and major depressive (6%) disorders. More than 50% of participants reported needs for care or interventions in four of nine dimensions: employment, cognitive functioning, symptom management, and interpersonal relationships. Nearly half of participants were not in the active stages of recovery (stages 4 and 5), and even those considered to have reached the final stage continued to require help in several areas. Conclusions: Most participants had already received psychiatric care for several years, and most remained dissatisfied with their social and emotional life and their psychological well-being.