Case Study Analysis of a Decision Coaching Intervention for Young Adults with Early Psychosis.

Young adults with early psychosis often disengage from essential early intervention services (i.e., Coordinated Specialty Care or CSC in the United States).

Novel Occupational Therapy Program (Step Up) to Facilitate the Transition from Early Intervention in Psychosis Services.

The purpose of this program evaluation was to examine preliminary outcomes associated with a novel stepdown program for clients of early intervention in psychosis services ("Step Up") that featured occupational therapy (OT) as a critical treatment component. Clients participated in Step Up for at least 6 months and were administered pre-post assessments of clinician-rated performance of daily living activities and self-perceived performance and satisfaction with daily occupational functioning. Paired samples Wilcoxon tests were used to compare outcomes across the two time points.

Collaborative approaches in psychiatric rehabilitation: Innovations in practice.

Objective: This special section is dedicated to collaborative approaches in psychiatric rehabilitation, which are rooted in foundational values such as service user involvement and self-determination.

Methods: Five articles featuring collaborative approaches are included and briefly reviewed here.

Results: These articles highlight innovations in collaborative approaches, addressing existing limitations in research and practice and advancing understanding of collaborative psychiatric care among diverse populations.

Usability and Feasibility of the Antipsychotic Medication Decision Aid in a Community Program for First-Episode Psychosis.

Objective: Although antipsychotic medications are considered first-line treatment for psychosis, rates of discontinuation and nonadherence are high, and debate persists about their use. This pilot study aimed to explore the usability, feasibility, and potential impact of a shared decision making (SDM) intervention, the Antipsychotic Medication Decision Aid (APM-DA), for decisions about use of antipsychotic medications.

Methods: A pilot randomized controlled trial was conducted with 17 participants in a first-episode psychosis program.

Implementation of occupational therapy within early intervention in psychosis services: Results from a national survey.

Aim: Occupational therapy plays an important role in fostering community participation in areas such as education, employment, leisure, and social relationships, yet its added value within early intervention in psychosis services, especially in the United States, remains poorly understood. The purpose of this research was to conduct a national survey of early intervention in psychosis programs to: (1) understand the role and unique contributions of occupational therapists to early intervention teams, and (2) identify barriers and supports to the implementation of occupational therapy services within these programs.

Methods: Fifty-one senior leaders from U.

Peer-Facilitated Decision Making in Mental Health: Promises, Pitfalls, and Recommendations for Research and Practice.

Recognition has grown that peer support workers serve an important role in facilitating decision making about treatment and recovery among people with mental health conditions. This article provides examples of peer-facilitated decision support interventions in the literature, discusses promises and potential pitfalls associated with peers serving in decision support roles, and offers recommendations for research and practice. Examples were selected from the literature on decision support interventions for people with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression.

Housing and loneliness among individuals with serious mental illnesses.

Background: People with serious mental illnesses (SMI) have higher levels of loneliness than the general population. Furthermore, people with SMI tend to be less satisfied with their housing and tend to move more frequently.

Aim: This study aims to examine relationships between housing variables (whom they live with, duration of residence, and satisfaction) and loneliness among individuals with SMI.

Identifying indicators of community participation-promoting efforts within coordinated specialty care: A modified e-Delphi study of stakeholder perspectives.

Aim: Community participation in occupational, social, recreational, and other domains is critically important during young adulthood. Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) programs provide developmentally tailored care to young adults experiencing early psychosis within the United States, but little is known about the breadth of efforts to promote community participation. This study aimed to develop and evaluate indicators of these efforts based on the perspectives of a national multi-stakeholder group.

Facilitating treatment engagement for early psychosis through peer-delivered decision support: intervention development and protocol for pilot evaluation.

Background: Emerging adults with early psychosis demonstrate high rates of service disengagement from critical early intervention services. Decision support interventions and peer support have both been shown to enhance service engagement but are understudied in this population. The purposes of this article are to describe the development of a novel peer-delivered decision coaching intervention for this population and to report plans for a pilot study designed to gather preliminary data about its feasibility, acceptability, and potential impact.

A Systematic Review of Shared Decision-Making Interventions for Service Users With Serious Mental Illnesses: State of the Science and Future Directions.

Objective: Shared decision making (SDM) is a health communication model that may be particularly appealing to service users with serious mental illnesses, who often want to be involved in making decisions about their mental health care. The purpose of this systematic review was to describe and evaluate participant, intervention, methodological, and outcome characteristics of SDM intervention studies conducted within this population.

Methods: Systematic searches of the literature through April 2020 were conducted and supplemented by hand searching of reference lists of identified studies.

Exploring peer specialists' experiences with spirituality in their work: Recommendations for future directions.

Objective: Spirituality is part of recovery for many people with lived experience of mental health issues, including those who become peer specialists and utilize their own recovery experiences to facilitate the recovery of others. This research explores how peer specialists view spirituality in their work with their peers and the factors that impact conversations in this area.

Method: Eleven peer specialists participated in individual qualitative interviews.

Beliefs About the Causes of Psychosis Among Persons With Psychosis and Mental Health Professionals: A Scoping Review.

Objective: The beliefs that people with psychosis hold about causes of their illness (causal beliefs) can affect their choice to adhere to treatment and engage in mental health services. However, less is known about causal beliefs of mental health professionals (MHPs) and their impact on treatment adherence and service engagement. This review explored literature focusing on MHPs' causal beliefs and mapped the degree of concordance between their causal beliefs and those of people with psychosis.

Beyond rationality: Expanding the practice of shared decision making in modern medicine.

The contemporary healthcare field operates according to an autonomy model of medical decision-making. This model stipulates that patients have the right to make informed choices about their care. Shared decision making (SDM) has arisen as the dominant approach for clinicians and patients to collaborate in care planning and implementation.

Treatment decision-making needs among emerging adults with early psychosis.

Aim: Many emerging adults disengage from early intervention in psychosis (EIP) services prematurely. Service disengagement may be in part due to having unresolved treatment decision-making needs about use of mental health services. A basic understanding of the decision-making needs of this population is lacking.

Evaluating the feasibility of a decision aid to promote shared decision making among young adults with first-episode psychosis: protocol for a pilot study.

Background: Young adults ages 18 to 25 with first episode psychosis (FEP) have an increased risk of discontinuation antipsychotic medications and psychiatric service disengagement that lead to symptom exacerbation and deterioration. We seek to (1) examine the feasibility, usability, and potential impact of a Shared Decision Making (SDM) Antipsychotic Medication Decision Aid (DA) on decision-making, adherence to the decision made, and service engagement among young adults with FEP and (2) understand the role of additional patient-level factors on SDM.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial is being conducted in a coordinated specialty care community program for FEP in an urban setting.

An Examination of the Community Participation Interests of Young Adults with Serious Mental Illnesses.

Participation in various aspects of community life (e.g., education, employment) plays a critical role in fostering young adult development and health.

Self-Determination and Choice in Mental Health: Qualitative Insights From a Study of Self-Directed Care.

SELF-DETERMINATION AND CHOICE IN MENTAL HEALTH.

An exploration of linear and curvilinear relationships between community participation and neurocognition among those with serious mental illnesses.

Objective: Longitudinal research supports an effect of participation in aspects of community life (e.g., leisure activity, employment) on neurocognition in the general population.

Community participation factors and poor neurocognitive functioning among persons with schizophrenia.

Poor neurocognitive functioning among individuals with schizophrenia is typically conceptualized as resulting from a disease process. The objective of this article is to further expand understanding of poor neurocognition beyond pathogenesis toward a perspective that also incorporates community participation factors. This article focuses on three such factors-sedentary behavior, loneliness, and poverty-that have been demonstrated to be related to neurocognition and are highly prevalent among individuals with schizophrenia.

Coordinating Mental Health Services for People with Serious Mental Illness: A Scoping Review of Transitions from Psychiatric Hospital to Community.

Effective coordination as people with serious mental illness (SMI) move between care settings is essential. We aimed to review challenges to care coordination for people with SMI and identify approaches for improving it. Sixteen articles were identified.

Conceptualizing restorative justice for people with mental illnesses leaving prison or jail.

Individuals with psychiatric disabilities who are involved in the criminal justice system face a number of challenges to community integration upon release. There is a critical need to develop and evaluate interventions for these individuals that connect them to the community by enhancing naturalistic social connections and helping them to participate meaningfully in valued roles. The purposes of this article are to describe, provide a theoretical rationale, and propose a conceptual model for the use of a particular restorative justice model, circles of support and accountability, to meet this need.

Beck Self-Esteem Scale-Short Form: Development and psychometric evaluation of a scale for the assessment of self-concept in schizophrenia.

A requisite step for testing cognitive theories regarding the role of self-concept in schizophrenia is the development of measures that follow a cognitive conceptualization and better capture the multifaceted nature of this construct. The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties a new self-concept measure, the Beck Self-Esteem Scale-Short Form (BSES-SF), based on a sample of 204 individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. We evaluated the BSES-SF's dimensionality, internal consistency reliability, and construct and divergent validity using confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlations, independent samples t-tests, and one-way analysis of variance.

Associations between the peer support relationship, service satisfaction and recovery-oriented outcomes: a correlational study.

Background: The working alliance between non-peer providers and mental health consumers is associated with positive outcomes. It is hypothesized that this factor, in addition to other active support elements, is also positively related to peer support service outcomes.

Aims: This study evaluates correlates of the peer-to-peer relationship and its unique association with service satisfaction and recovery-oriented outcomes.