Development and properties of a measure designed to assess core competencies in intentional peer support.

Objective: Intentional Peer Support (IPS) is a peer-developed, theoretically based, manualized approach that is used in multiple countries. This research aimed to develop and test a measure that can be administered to service users to provide quantitative data for assessing IPS core competencies (IPSCC) in outcomes research.

Methods: Ten items based on IPSCC dimensions were developed and revised in an iterative process and administered in face-to-face interviews with 84 respondents.

"It suits my needs": Self-employed individuals with psychiatric disabilities and small businesses.

Objective: Small business is a favorably regarded institution in America. Given employment disparities among individuals with psychiatric disabilities compared to other workers, self-employment has potential to promote career development and community integration. However, little is known about what has helped or hindered current small business owners with psychiatric disabilities.

Web-based Survey Data Collection With Peer Support and Advocacy Organizations: Implications of Participatory Methods.

Background: The 2012 National Survey of Peer-Run Organizations is one of the first to survey a nationally representative sample of mental health peer-run organizations, nonprofit venues for support and advocacy which are defined by people with psychiatric histories being in positions of authority and control.

Objectives: This paper describes data collection methods and demonstrates how participatory strategies to involve people with psychiatric histories intersected with Internet research to achieve study aims.

Methods: People with psychiatric histories were involved in designing and implementing a web-based survey to collect data on peer-run organizations' operations and views on national policy.

The opportunities and challenges of multi-site evaluations: lessons from the jail diversion and trauma recovery national cross-site evaluation.

Multi-site evaluations, particularly of federally funded service programs, pose a special set of challenges for program evaluation. Not only are there contextual differences related to project location, there are often relatively few programmatic requirements, which results in variations in program models, target populations and services. The Jail Diversion and Trauma Recovery-Priority to Veterans (JDTR) National Cross-Site Evaluation was tasked with conducting a multi-site evaluation of thirteen grantee programs that varied along multiple domains.

Pushing the envelope: shared decision making in mental health.

Topic: This article reviews the literature on shared decision making in health and mental health and discusses tools in general health that are proposed for adaptation and use in mental health.

Purpose: To offer findings from literature and a product development process to help inform/guide those who wish to create or implement materials for shared decision making in mental health.

Sources Used: Published literature and research on issues related to shared decision making in health and mental health, focus groups, and product testing.