Mental Disorders, SevereRECOVER-ENCT03884933
Large Scale Implementation of Community Based Mental Health Care for People With Severe and Enduring Mental Ill Health in Europe
A study testing Mobile team community mental health services in people with Mental Disorders, Severe, run by Liga Romana pentru Sanatate Mintala at 1 site in Romania.
Trial summary
RECOVER-E's main purpose is to ensure well-functioning community mental health teams in five countries in Europe; these teams will serve as the central node for the coordination and provision of care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Any age
- Conditions the study is for
- Mental Disorders, Severe
- What is being tested?
- Mobile team community mental health services
- Could I receive a placebo?
- No, everyone receives an active treatment
- How many people
- 180 participants
- Where
- 1 siteRomania
- Study dates
- 1 Mar 2019to 31 Dec 2020
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- None posted in the registry
Key requirements
Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.
- Ages Any age
- No healthy volunteers
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
None listed.
Who cannot join
- Patients under the age of 18
- Patients with dementia or Alzheimer's disease
- Patients for whom treatment is legally prescribed (in forensic psychiatry), however if they are discharged from the forensic ward, and still in need of treatment they can be included
Trial locations and contacts
1 site in 1 country.
About this study
RECOVER-E's main purpose is to ensure well-functioning community mental health teams in five countries in Europe; these teams will serve as the central node for the coordination and provision of care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). At present, specialist teams providing comprehensive, evidence-based mental health care are not available or functional in many countries in Eastern Europe, and the care pathways and evidence-based treatment protocols for community-based and recovery-oriented mental healthcare have not been defined or tailored to local situations and therefore, are not being implemented. This project aims to implement and study community-based initiatives to narrow this gap. These efforts will emphasize the development of human resource capacity and care pathways that can be distilled in a comprehensive pathway to scale for regional and national decision-makers for potential project expansion and replication after the project period.
Read the detailed description
AIMS / OBJECTIVES The overall aim of Recover-E is to contribute to the implementation of a community-based service delivery model in five implementation sites in low and middle-income countries and vulnerable populations in high-income countries in Europe to improve the level of functioning, quality of life, and mental health outcomes for people with severe and enduring mental ill health (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression).
RECOVER-E's specific project objectives are to:
- design, implement and evaluate recovery-oriented care for people with severe mental illness in community settings by recognizing the value of experiential knowledge through including peer experts as members of the community mental health teams
- identify intervention and program elements, as well as contextual factors, which enhance sustainable implementation of community-based mental healthcare for people with severe mental illness
- establish a peer-to-peer capacity building partnership in community mental health, by linking a European expert panel with key stakeholders in five implementation sites (policy makers, service managers, service providers, users, and carers) to co-create community health services for people with SMI
- develop evidence-based care pathways and treatment protocols and transition to scale for regional and national decision-makers, for continued implementation and scale up after the project's life span
- Conditions
- Mental Disorders, Severe
- Being tested
- Mobile team community mental health services
- Medical subject headings
- Mental Disorders
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Mobile team community mental health servicesOther
The intervention focuses on changing mental health care systems to be able to provide community-based mental health care for people with severe mental illness. This will be done through the development and implementation of multidisciplinary community mental health teams (CMHTs) in each of the implementation sites, consisting of at least one nurse, psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, and peer worker (person with lived experience of a severe mental illness). The structure and delivery method of the community mental health teams is part of an evidence-based service delivery model providing flexible, assertive community mental health teams providing integrated services to people with severe mental illness (SMI) in order to structurally attain their recovery goals, as well as timely and appropriate care in the event of a crisis.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile team community mental health services | Experimental | Not described Receives: Other: Mobile team community mental health services |
| Current clinical services | No intervention | Not described |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
The primary outcome is global (personal and social) functioning, measured with the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0).
The WHODAS 2.0 is a generic measure designed to measure functioning and disability as well as health-related quality of life based on the Internal Classification of Functioning (ICF) framework. The WHODAS 2.0 will be used as a continuous outcome in the clinical trial evaluation. The scale comes in 12- and 36-item versions. The 36-item version captures the level of functioning in six domains of life:
Domain 1: Cognition - understanding and communicating Domain 2: Mobility - moving and getting around Domain 3: Self-care - attending to one's hygiene, dressing, eating and staying alone Domain 4: Getting along - interacting with other people Domain 5: Life activities - domestic responsibilities, leisure, work and school Domain 6: Participation - joining in community activities, participating in society
The 12-item version helps to assess overall (global) functioning only. Therefore, it is planned to use the 36-itme self-report version of the WHODAS 2.0.
Measured: 18 months
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted21 Mar 2019
- Study start1 Mar 2019
- Primary completion1 Dec 2020 (estimated)
- Study completion31 Dec 2020 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Publications (4)Papers the sponsor has linked to this study.
- Other trials for Mental Disorders, SevereStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
More details
For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.
Study design
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase N/A
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind
- Who is masked
- Participant, Investigator
- Enrolment
- 180 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Lead sponsor
- Liga Romana pentru Sanatate Mintala
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Psychiatric Hospital for Chronic Patients Siret, Suceava, Romania
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03884933
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 779362
- Acronym
- RECOVER-E
- Status last verified
- Mar 2019
- First submitted
- 20 Mar 2019
- Last updated
- 16 May 2019
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- No
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
- Individual data sharing
- No
Publications
Wijnen B, Smit F, Uhernik AI, Zegrec A, Dedovic J, Dinolova R, Nica R, Tomcuk A, Velickovski R, Wensing M, Shields-Zeeman L, Petrea I. Cost-effectiveness of community versus hospital-based mental healthcare for severe mental illness in South-East Europe: economic evaluation of five randomised trials. Eur J Health Econ. 2026 Jul 3. doi: 10.1007/s10198-026-01960-1. Online ahead of print.
PubMed 42393474Shields-Zeeman L, Smit F, Wijnen B, Roth C, Wensing M, Petrea I; RECOVER-E consortium; Bolinski F, Bajraktarov S, Dedovic J, Keet R, Rojnic Kuzman M, Nakov V, Nica R, Novotni A, Tomcuk A, Djurisic T, Morales G, Rotaru Anghelescu T; RECOVER-E study. Community versus institutionalised care for people with severe mental illness in five countries in Southeast Europe: pooled analysis of five randomised trials. BMJ Glob Health. 2025 Oct 23;10(10):e018594. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-018594.
PubMed 41130742Roth C, Wensing M, Kuzman MR, Bjedov S, Medved S, Istvanovic A, Grbic DS, Simetin IP, Tomcuk A, Dedovic J, Djurisic T, Nica RI, Rotaru T, Novotni A, Bajraktarov S, Milutinovic M, Nakov V, Zarkov Z, Dinolova R, Walters BH, Shields-Zeeman L, Petrea I. Experiences of healthcare staff providing community-based mental healthcare as a multidisciplinary community mental health team in Central and Eastern Europe findings from the RECOVER-E project: an observational intervention study. BMC Psychiatry. 2021 Oct 24;21(1):525. doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03542-2.
PubMed 34689733Wijnen BFM, Smit F, Uhernik AI, Istvanovic A, Dedovic J, Dinolova R, Nica R, Velickovski R, Wensing M, Petrea I, Shields-Zeeman L. Sustainability of Community-Based Specialized Mental Health Services in Five European Countries: Protocol for Five Randomized Controlled Trial-Based Health-Economic Evaluations Embedded in the RECOVER-E Program. JMIR Res Protoc. 2020 Jun 1;9(6):e17454. doi: 10.2196/17454.
PubMed 32476658
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 16 May 2019. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Large Scale Implementation of Community Based Mental Health Care for People With Severe and Enduring Mental Ill Health in Europe
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT03884933
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- RECOVER-E / 779362
- Conditions
- Mental Disorders, Severe
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Unknown status
- Enrolment
- 180 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Liga Romana pentru Sanatate MintalaUniversity, hospital or other
- Collaborators
- Psychiatric Hospital for Chronic Patients Siret, Suceava, Romania
- Study start
- 1 Mar 2019 (actual)
- Primary completion
- 1 Dec 2020 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 31 Dec 2020 (estimated)
- First posted
- 21 Mar 2019 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
RECOVER-E's main purpose is to ensure well-functioning community mental health teams in five countries in Europe; these teams will serve as the central node for the coordination and provision of care for people with severe mental illness (SMI). At present, specialist teams providing comprehensive, evidence-based mental health care are not available or functional in many countries in Eastern Europe, and the care pathways and evidence-based treatment protocols for community-based and recovery-oriented mental healthcare have not been defined or tailored to local situations and therefore, are not being implemented. This project aims to implement and study community-based initiatives to narrow this gap. These efforts will emphasize the development of human resource capacity and care pathways that can be distilled in a comprehensive pathway to scale for regional and national decision-makers for potential project expansion and replication after the project period.
Detailed description
AIMS / OBJECTIVES The overall aim of Recover-E is to contribute to the implementation of a community-based service delivery model in five implementation sites in low and middle-income countries and vulnerable populations in high-income countries in Europe to improve the level of functioning, quality of life, and mental health outcomes for people with severe and enduring mental ill health (schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression).
RECOVER-E's specific project objectives are to:
- design, implement and evaluate recovery-oriented care for people with severe mental illness in community settings by recognizing the value of experiential knowledge through including peer experts as members of the community mental health teams
- identify intervention and program elements, as well as contextual factors, which enhance sustainable implementation of community-based mental healthcare for people with severe mental illness
- establish a peer-to-peer capacity building partnership in community mental health, by linking a European expert panel with key stakeholders in five implementation sites (policy makers, service managers, service providers, users, and carers) to co-create community health services for people with SMI
- develop evidence-based care pathways and treatment protocols and transition to scale for regional and national decision-makers, for continued implementation and scale up after the project's life span
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Supportive care
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind (participant, investigator)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile team community mental health services | Experimental | Other: Mobile team community mental health services |
| Current clinical services | No intervention | – |
Who may qualify
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Child, Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (0 listed)
Key exclusion criteria (3 listed)
- Patients under the age of 18
- Patients with dementia or Alzheimer's disease
- Patients for whom treatment is legally prescribed (in forensic psychiatry), however if they are discharged from the forensic ward, and still in need of treatment they can be included
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile team community mental health servicesThe intervention focuses on changing mental health care systems to be able to provide community-based mental health care for people with severe mental illness. This will be done through the development and implementation of multidisciplinary community mental health teams (CMHTs) in each of the implementation sites, consisting of at least one nurse, psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, and peer worker (person with lived experience of a severe mental illness). The structure and delivery method of the community mental health teams is part of an evidence-based service delivery model providing flexible, assertive community mental health teams providing integrated services to people with severe mental illness (SMI) in order to structurally attain their recovery goals, as well as timely and appropriate care in the event of a crisis. | Other | Mobile team community mental health services |
Primary outcome
The primary outcome is global (personal and social) functioning, measured with the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0).
Time frame: 18 months
The WHODAS 2.0 is a generic measure designed to measure functioning and disability as well as health-related quality of life based on the Internal Classification of Functioning (ICF) framework. The WHODAS 2.0 will be used as a continuous outcome in the clinical trial evaluation. The scale comes in 12- and 36-item versions. The 36-item version captures the level of functioning in six domains of life: Domain 1: Cognition - understanding and communicating Domain 2: Mobility - moving and getting around Domain 3: Self-care - attending to one's hygiene, dressing, eating and staying alone Domain 4: Getting along - interacting with other people Domain 5: Life activities - domestic responsibilities, leisure, work and school Domain 6: Participation - joining in community activities, participating in society The 12-item version helps to assess overall (global) functioning only. Therefore, it is planned to use the 36-itme self-report version of the WHODAS 2.0.
Results and safety
Results are not available in the source record.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 16 May 2019.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 42393474Wijnen B, Smit F, Uhernik AI, Zegrec A, Dedovic J, Dinolova R, Nica R, Tomcuk A, Velickovski R, Wensing M, Shields-Zeeman L, Petrea I. Cost-effectiveness of community versus hospital-based mental healthcare for severe mental illness in South-East Europe: economic evaluation of five randomised trials. Eur J Health Econ. 2026 Jul 3. doi: 10.1007/s10198-026-01960-1. Online ahead of print.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 41130742Shields-Zeeman L, Smit F, Wijnen B, Roth C, Wensing M, Petrea I; RECOVER-E consortium; Bolinski F, Bajraktarov S, Dedovic J, Keet R, Rojnic Kuzman M, Nakov V, Nica R, Novotni A, Tomcuk A, Djurisic T, Morales G, Rotaru Anghelescu T; RECOVER-E study. Community versus institutionalised care for people with severe mental illness in five countries in Southeast Europe: pooled analysis of five randomised trials. BMJ Glob Health. 2025 Oct 23;10(10):e018594. doi: 10.1136/bmjgh-2024-018594.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 34689733Roth C, Wensing M, Kuzman MR, Bjedov S, Medved S, Istvanovic A, Grbic DS, Simetin IP, Tomcuk A, Dedovic J, Djurisic T, Nica RI, Rotaru T, Novotni A, Bajraktarov S, Milutinovic M, Nakov V, Zarkov Z, Dinolova R, Walters BH, Shields-Zeeman L, Petrea I. Experiences of healthcare staff providing community-based mental healthcare as a multidisciplinary community mental health team in Central and Eastern Europe findings from the RECOVER-E project: an observational intervention study. BMC Psychiatry. 2021 Oct 24;21(1):525. doi: 10.1186/s12888-021-03542-2.
- Derived from this study: PubMed 32476658Wijnen BFM, Smit F, Uhernik AI, Istvanovic A, Dedovic J, Dinolova R, Nica R, Velickovski R, Wensing M, Petrea I, Shields-Zeeman L. Sustainability of Community-Based Specialized Mental Health Services in Five European Countries: Protocol for Five Randomized Controlled Trial-Based Health-Economic Evaluations Embedded in the RECOVER-E Program. JMIR Res Protoc. 2020 Jun 1;9(6):e17454. doi: 10.2196/17454.
- Individual participant dataSharing planned: No
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part. This study is not recruiting at the moment.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
1 site in 1 country: see every site and its status.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Mobile team community mental health services in people with Mental Disorders, Severe, run by Liga Romana pentru Sanatate Mintala at 1 site in Romania.
The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.
Who may be eligible to take part?
The sponsor lists 0 inclusion and 3 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.
Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?
The record says: status not confirmed, as of the sponsor's last update on 16 May 2019. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
Where is the study taking place?
The record lists 1 site in Romania. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.
Are results available for this study?
Results are not available in the source record.
How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?
The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.
What does the primary outcome measure?
The primary outcome is global (personal and social) functioning, measured with the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0). (time frame: 18 months). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT03884933, which also lists 4 linked publications.
Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?
No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.
How often is this information updated?
AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 16 May 2019.