Individuals who live with mental illness are encumbered by related risk factors that increase the probability of legal involvement. The goal was to determine how homelessness and substance use disorder are intervening factors in the relationship between symptoms of serious mental illness (SMI) and criminal offending. A sample of 210 chronically homeless adults receiving SAMHSA-funded outreach and psychiatric rehabilitation services between 2014 and 2016 was recruited in a study of interventions to address housing in homeless persons with a SMI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Although recovery for people with serious mental illness (SMI) has received considerable attention, there is a research gap on the related topics of well-being and happiness-subjects that have been widely studied in the general population. The objective of this study was to explore the experiences of happiness, well-being, and recovery from the perspectives of persons with SMI, and to examine similarities and differences among these constructs.
Method: This qualitative study used semistructured interviews with a purposive sample of 30 adults with SMI to explore experiences of happiness, well-being, and recovery.
Clinician burnout in healthcare is extensive and of growing concern. In mental health and rehabilitation settings, research on interventions to improve burnout and work engagement is limited and rarely addresses organizational drivers of burnout. This study sought to elaborate on the organizational influence of burnout and work engagement in mental health.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWith high levels of burnout, turnover, and secondary traumatic stress, the well-being of the behavioral health workforce was an area of concern prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. How the COVID-19 crisis has impacted social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, and other behavioral health professionals is unclear but should be examined. A brief survey evaluated the impact of the pandemic on the well-being of 168 behavioral health clinical and administrative staff serving in an urban behavioral health center in the United States.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF: Relatively few community-based programs have been found to be helpful for homeless people with alcohol disorders, even though this group represents a high-risk, vulnerable population prone to poor outcomes.: This study sought to implement and evaluate intensive community-based programs for homeless people with alcohol disorders.: The project worked closely with a homeless outreach team for referrals, and then provided two different, intensive substance abuse treatment approaches matched to the needs of two subgroups: homeless individuals with alcohol disorders without severe mental illness received community reinforcement approach (CRA) and case management services, while those with alcohol and severe mental illness were assigned to assertive community treatment and integrated dual disorders (ACT/IDDT) services.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPsychiatr Rehabil J
December 2015
Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is common in people with a serious mental illness, but it is often not diagnosed or treated. Recent progress has been made in developing and validating interventions for PTSD in this population, but dropout from treatment can be problematic. The present study evaluated the feasibility and clinical outcomes of a Brief program (three sessions) for the treatment of PTSD in persons with a serious mental illness.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study evaluated the effectiveness of the three approaches for treating dual disorder clients who were homeless at intake: integrated assertive community treatment (IACT), assertive community treatment only (ACTO), and standard care (SC). Multilevel Random Coefficient Modeling (MRCM) was used to analyze longitudinal effects and to identify mediators of significant treatment effects. The outcome variables were consumer satisfaction, stable housing, psychiatric symptoms, and substance abuse.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study investigated the causal relationship between the working alliance and client outcomes in the client-case manager relationship. All 162 study participants received services fiom a case manager who worked as a member of an assertive community treatment team. All participants had both a substance use disorder and a diagnosis of severe mental illness and were homeless at baseline.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study compared the costs and outcomes associated with three treatment programs that served 149 individuals with dual disorders (i.e., individuals with co-occurring severe mental illness and substance use disorders) who were homeless at baseline.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: People with severe mental illness and substance use disorders (dual disorder) often have considerable contact with the criminal justice system.
Aims: To test the effects of client characteristics on six criminal justice outcomes among homeless (at intake) people with mental illness and substance misuse disorders.
Methods: The sample was of participants in a randomized controlled trial comparing standard treatment, assertive community treatment (ACT) and integrated treatment (IT).
Community Ment Health J
April 2006
Past research has found that a positive working alliance between clients and their case managers is modestly correlated with client outcomes. The current study tried to identify the predictors of the working alliance in a sample of 115 clients who were receiving services from Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams. All of the clients suffered from severe mental illness, had a substance use disorder and were homeless at baseline.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study examined the relationship between outcomes and the working alliance in clients who were receiving assertive community treatment only or integrated assertive community treatment (assertive community treatment plus substance abuse treatment). All 98 participants had a severe mental illness and a substance use disorder. The Working Alliance Inventory assessed the alliance from the perspective of both the client and the case manager at 3 and 15 months into treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe generalizability of previously isolated prototypical profiles of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) was examined in a sample of homeless individuals with both severe mental illness and substance-use problems who were part of a 24-month study that evaluated the effectiveness of various treatment interventions. These prototypical profiles (depressed, actively psychotic, and withdrawn) did generalize to the new sample, with a 59.4% coverage rate.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study evaluated several statistical models for estimating treatment effects in a randomized, longitudinal experiment comparing assertive community treatment (ACT) versus brokered case management (BCM). In addition, mediator and moderator analyses were conducted. The ACT clients had improved outcomes in terms of housing and psychiatric symptoms than BCM clients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Methods Psychiatr Res
February 2004
This study used a confirmatory factor analysis procedure, the Oblique Multiple Group Method (OMG), with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) on a sample of homeless individuals who had both a severe mental illness and a substance use disorder. The hypothesized five-factor model of Guy (1976) accounted for 93% of the possible variance, and all the appropriate scales had their highest loading on their respective hypothesized factor. In addition, the Guy model accounted for more variance than did an alternative model.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and hepatitis C virus (HCV) among homeless persons with co-occurring severe mental illness (SMI) and substance use disorders and to determine associated risk factors. As part of a longitudinal study of the effectiveness of integrated treatment for homeless persons with SMI and substance abuse or dependence, serological testing was performed to ascertain the prevalence of HIV, HBV, and HCV. At baseline, 6.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlthough the helping alliance has been a topic of investigation in psychotherapy research for decades, few studies have examined the role of the helping alliance in assertive community treatment programs serving people with severe mental illness. In this article, we describe a series of analyses focused on the case manager's view of the helping alliance. The study addressed two primary questions: What factors facilitate a positive helping alliance in case management? What is the relationship of the helping alliance to client outcomes? Results indicated that few client variables predicted the helping alliance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis randomized experiment first determined that clients with severe mental illness who received Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) were more satisfied with their treatment program than were clients in a brokered case management program (BCM). Eight demographic and diagnostic variables were examined as potential moderators of the treatment effect. Only one of the eight varables, diagnosis of depression, interacted with treatment condition to effect client satisfaction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Community Psychol
October 1989
This study examined the backgrounds and service needs of 152 homeless men. The sample was divided into three groups: "street sample" (used the shelters less than 50% of the time), moderate users of shelters, and high-frequency users of shelters. No significant differences were found between the groups on background variables, psychiatric distress, prior use of psychiatric services, and willingness to receive services.
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