Placement: The Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy and Clinical Practice
Mentor: Stephen Bartels, M.D., M.S. (Herman O. West Professor of Geriatrics; Director, Dartmouth Centers for Health and Aging, The Dartmouth Institute of Health Policy and Clinical Practice)
Co-mentor: Martha L. Bruce, Ph.D., M.P.H. (Professor of Psychiatry, Geisel School of Medicine and The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice)
Project: Quality in the Coordination and Continuity of Mental Healthcare
Marianne Storm, Ph.D., M.Sc., is a 2017-18 Norwegian Harkness/Research Council of Norway Fellow in Health Care Policy and Practice. She is currently a Professor and Lecturer at the Institute of Health Sciences at the University of Stavanger. Storm has been the principal or co-investigator on three research projects supported by the Norwegian Research Council, and is a member of the steering board of the Norwegian Health Services Research Network. She has developed and conducted complex interventions involving health professionals and patients in mental health and elder care, aimed at improving quality through organizational learning, education and training, and inter-professional collaboration. Storm’s Ph.D. work included the development of the “Service user involvement in practice” intervention, which is included in Norway’s revised guidelines for the “Diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of people with psychosis disorder.” She received a Fulbright Scholarship to serve as a postgraduate fellow at the Yale School of Medicine where she worked with Professor Larry Davidson. Storm’s publications include 29 peer-reviewed articles in journals such as BMJOpen, BMC Health Services Research, and the International Journal of Integrated Care. She received her Ph.D. in Management from the University of Stavanger and a Master’s of Health Science degree from the University of Bergen.
Project Abstract: Health care systems often struggle to meet the care and treatment needs of older adults with serious mental illness and chronic medical comorbidities. Collaborative care models and those that integrate mental health services into primary care have been developed to improve care coordination and outcomes for this population. Despite these promising efforts, little is known about how health care services can best be coordinated for older adults with serious mental illness and chronic medical conditions, and what key components should be included in a care model to assist those living in the community. This project aims to investigate how health services are coordinated for older adults with serious mental illness, with a particular focus on the coordination of medical and mental health services. In addition, it aims to examine where there is a need to improve care coordination and how this can be achieved. The study will be conducted in health care organizations applying different care coordination models in their service delivery. Data sources will include individual interviews with administrative leaders and health care professionals employed in the selected organizations.