Abstract
Which types of mental health/substance misuse treatment services are available in primary care for adults in rural municipalities in Norway?
Part of Special Series: WONCA World Rural Health Conference Abstracts 2022
AUTHORS
Hege Bruun1 HR Manager *
Anette Fosse2 Director, Researcher
Birgit Abelsen3 Professor
CORRESPONDENCE
* Hege Bruun
AFFILIATIONS
1, 2, 3 Norwegian Centre for Rural Medicine, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
PUBLISHED
10 January 2023 Volume 23 Issue 1
HISTORY
RECEIVED: 20 September 2022
ACCEPTED: 20 September 2022
CITATION
Bruun H, Fosse A, Abelsen B. Which types of mental health/substance misuse treatment services are available in primary care for adults in rural municipalities in Norway? Rural and Remote Health 2023; 23: 8109. https://doi.org/10.22605/RRH8109
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
abstract:
Introduction: In Norway, the municipalities are responsible for providing primary health care, including mental health care. National rules, regulations and guidelines are the same throughout the country, but the municipalities can organise the service as they see fit. In rural areas, distance and time to specialised health care, recruitment and retention of professionals, and the care needs in the community will likely play a part in how the services are organised. There is a lack of knowledge of the variation of services, and which factors affect availability, capacity and organisation of mental health/substance-misuse treatment services for adults in rural municipalities.
Aim: The aim of this study is to explore how mental health/substance-misuse treatment services in rural areas are organised and assigned, and which professionals provide the services.
Methods: This study will be based on collected data from municipal plans and available statistic recourses on how the services are organised. These data will be contextualised with focused interviews with leaders in primary health care.
Results: The study is ongoing. Results will be presented in June 2022.
Discussion: Results from this descriptive study will be discussed in light of the development of mental health/substance-misuse health care with special focus on challenges and possibilities in rural areas.