The ‘Parma-Early Psychosis’ programme: Characterization of help-seekers with first episode psychosis

Aim: Research on early psychosis paradigm has demonstrated the importance of early intervention (EI) in reducing illness severity and persistence. From January 2013, the Parma Department of Mental Health developed a specific care pathway [the ‘Parma-Early Psychosis’ (Pr-EP) programme] as a diffused EI infrastructure aimed to offer an evidence-based protocol of care to help-seekers with a first episode psychosis (FEP). Aim of this study was to investigate sources of referral, drop-out rate, sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of patients enrolled in the Pr-EP programme during the first 6 years of activity. Methods: Participants (n = 279) were individuals (aged 12-54 years) completing an ad-hoc socio-demographic/clinical schedule. Results: At baseline, the most frequent diagnoses were schizophreniform disorder (30.5%) and schizophrenia (29.4%). Only 31 (11.1%) subjects dropped out during the first year of treatment. FEP participants were mainly referred by general practitioners (36.9%) and emergency room/general hospital (28.7%). FEP individuals who were referred by emergency room/general hospital showed a higher percentage of current suicidal ideation compared to those entering the Pr-EP protocol through other sources of referrals. Conclusions: EI in FEP help-seekers within Italian public mental health services is feasible and desirable, also in adolescence, where the risk of falling through the child-adult service gap is high.