NutriMental Screener
The NutriMental Screener is a screening tool designed to identify over- and undernutrition as well as other diet-related challenges in people living with severe mental illness.
Given the high prevalence of physical comorbidities, the life expectancy of people with severe mental illness is significantly reduced. Among other things, this can be attributed to unfavorable dietary habits of people with mental illness. In order to identify diet-related issues, an international working group has developed a screening tool to identify the need for dietary interventions in people with depression. Until now, screening procedures have often only focused on identifying a risk of malnutrition. There is still no screening tool that addresses the various nutrition-related problems simultaneously.
The Institute of Epidemiology and Medical Biometry is now conducting a project in which the NutriMental Screener is being piloted at six psychosomatic rehabilitation clinics in Germany. The aim is to investigate the potential for the NutriMental Screener to be used effectively in psychosomatic rehabilitation clinics to plan services. To this end, the experiences of professionals and rehabilitants with the use of the NutriMental screener will be captured using qualitative interviews.
The long-term objective of the project is to identify previously overlooked diet-related problems/needs of rehabilitants in psychosomatic rehabilitation clinics through the implementation of a screening and to accordingly design needs-oriented care planning for the stay in the rehabilitation clinic and aftercare.
Study Protocol: Teasdale et al. 2021 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8583622/) and Hiltensperger et al. 2024(https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/a-2269-5287)
| Role of the Institute | Head of the project (including data collection and data analysis) |
| Funding period | 01/2024 - 06/2025 |
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| Funding agency | DRV Bund |