Identifying Competencies of the ACT Program Nurse Using the DACUM Method.

The nurse role on an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) team requires a specialized set of skills in psychiatric community-based care. While the ACT model has existed for fifty years, no nationally recognized standard curriculum to train ACT nurses has been developed. The ACT Nursing Project described in this paper aimed to create a competency-based on-board training program using the Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) method.

Statewide implementation of high-fidelity recovery-oriented ACT: A case study.

Background: Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) is a recognized evidence-based practice, but the use of Translation Science to ensure the broad implementation of high quality ACT services has not yet been fully explored. This single intrinsic case study explores how Oregon uses strategies identified through Translation Science to achieve statewide implementation of high-fidelity recovery-oriented ACT.

Method: Multiple data sources were used to evaluate this implementation process, including ACT fidelity review reports, programmatic outcome data, a national ACT taskforce survey, and focus groups with program participants.

A measure to evaluate classroom teaching practices in nursing.

Aim: The Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE) Classroom Teaching Fidelity Scale was created to measure the implementation of the OCNE curriculum and its related pedagogy.

Background: OCNE is a partnership of eight community colleges and the five-campus state-supported university. OCNE developed a shared competency-based curriculum and pedagogical practices.

Factors affecting the academic progression of associate degree graduates.

The Oregon Consortium for Nursing Education (OCNE) is a coalition of community colleges and the campuses of the Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU), created to share a competency-based curriculum by which associate degree graduates from an OCNE campus are eligible to complete requirements for the bachelor's degree after 1 year of additional full-time study. Since 2006, three graduating classes from consortium community college programs have graduated 760 students eligible for direct transfer to OHSU; however, only 228 (30%) have actually transferred. This study aimed to explore the factors that influenced the 208 graduates in the class of 2010 not to transfer.

Rearrest and linkage to mental health services among clients of the Clark County mental health court program.

Objective: This study examined rearrest and linkage to mental health services among 368 misdemeanants with severe and persistent mental illness who were served by the Clark County Mental Health Court (MHC). This court, established in April 2000, is based on the concepts of therapeutic jurisprudence. This study addressed the following questions about the effectiveness of the Clark County MHC: Did MHC clients receive more comprehensive mental health services? Did the MHC successfully reduce recidivism? Were there any client or program characteristics associated with recidivism?

Methods: A secondary analysis of use of mental health services and jail data for the MHC clients enrolled from April 2000 through April 2003 was conducted.

Beyond components: using fidelity scales to measure and assure choice in program implementation and quality assurance.

Fidelity scales have become an accepted part of intervention research. Initially, fidelity scales focused on critical components of an intervention. In this paper we argue that the next generation of fidelity scales should include key process variables such as choice.