Measuring Community Participation Among Japanese with Serious Mental Illnesses.

Community participation is associated with physical, cognitive, and mental health benefits for people with serious mental illnesses (SMI) and is recognized as a critical component of health functioning. Developing reliable measurement of participation in different cultural contexts and languages is important to expanding knowledge in this area. The aim of this study was to translate a psychometrically sound English-language community participation measure into Japanese and examine its test-reliability with a population of Japanese people with SMI.

Efficacy of a Peer-Led, Recovery-Oriented Shared Decision-Making System: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.

Objective: The effects of a comprehensive shared decision-making system based on the CommonGround approach and incorporating peer support and a computerized decision aid were investigated.

Methods: A pilot randomized controlled trial with six-month follow-up was conducted in Japan. Fifty-six outpatients with mental illness were randomly allocated to a shared decision-making system (intervention) group or treatment as usual (control) group.

Preliminary outcome study on assertive community treatment in Japan.

Aims: The beneficial effects of assertive community treatment (ACT), which has been widely acclaimed as being successful in several foreign countries, must also be objectively evaluated with respect to the transition from inpatient to community-based mental health treatment in Japan. This was the first study that examined effects of the ACT program in Japan using pre/post design data of the pilot trial of the ACT program in Japan project.

Methods: The study included 41 subjects hospitalized at Kohnodai Hospital, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry between May 2003 and April 2004 for severe mental illness and who met inclusion criteria for entry regarding age, diagnosis, residence, utilization of mental health services, social adjustment, and ability to function in daily activities.