Advancing Health Policy and Outcomes for People With Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities: A Community-Led Agenda.

Importance: At least 10 million people in the United States have an intellectual and/or developmental disability (IDD). People with IDD experience considerably higher rates of poor overall health, chronic conditions including diabetes, mental health challenges, maternal mortality, and preventable deaths. This Special Communication proposes national goals based on a community-led consensus model that advances priority health outcomes for people with IDD and their caregivers/partners and identifies critical policy opportunities and challenges in achieving these goals.

The ParentingWell Practice Approach: Facilitating implementation in U.S. adult mental health services.

Background: To address the need for interventions for families with parents with mental illness, the evidence-based intervention Let's Talk about Children (LTC) was adapted in the context of adult mental health services in the United States and reframed as the ParentingWell Practice Approach. This study focuses on the early implementation phase of the adapted practice in Massachusetts.

Methods: As part of the adaptation and implementation process, practitioners from provider agencies serving adults with mental illness were invited to participate in the ParentingWell Learning Collaborative (PWLC), which included in-person learning collaborative sessions and follow-up virtual coaching sessions.

Sustaining efforts to improve family well-being with parents with mental ill health and substance (mis)use.

Research conducted over the past 30 years has developed an extensive body of knowledge on families where parents experience mental ill health and/or substance (mis)use, and interventions that are effective in improving their outcomes. A more recent focus has also explored the importance and nuance of implementation. This perspective article reflects on the concept and practice of sustainability within this body of work and considers underlying assumptions in the field about the goal and direction of interventions that make clarity about sustainability difficult.

Mothers with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities and Behavioral Health Conditions and Community Experts Provide Recommendations for Treatment/Services, Systems, and Research.

Mothers with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are vulnerable to perinatal complications and adverse outcomes. Their vulnerabilities may also be exacerbated by co-occurring behavioral health (BH) conditions. Their wellbeing may be compromised by a lack of tailored treatments or by treatments and services that are inaccessible, irrelevant, and/or ineffective.

Lived Experience-Led Research Agenda to Address Early Death in People With a Diagnosis of a Serious Mental Illness: A Consensus Statement.

Importance: People with serious mental illness (SMI), defined as a diagnosis of schizophrenia spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, or disabling major depressive disorder) die approximately 10 to 25 years earlier than the general population.

Objective: To develop the first-ever lived experience-led research agenda to address early mortality in people with SMI.

Evidence Review: A virtual 2-day roundtable comprising 40 individuals convened on May 24 and May 26, 2022, and used a virtual Delphi method to arrive at expert group consensus.

Facilitators and Barriers to Care Coordination Between Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations and Community Partners: Early Lessons From Massachusetts.

Care coordination is central to health care delivery system reform efforts to control costs, improve quality, and enhance patient outcomes, especially for individuals with complex medical and social needs. The potential impact of addressing health-related social needs further illustrates the importance of coordinating health care services with community-based organizations that provide social services and support. This study offers early findings from a unique approach to care coordination delivered by 17 Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations and 27 partnering community-based organizations for individuals with behavioral health conditions and/or those needing long-term services and supports.

Guidelines to Establish an Equitable Mobile Health Ecosystem.

Mobile health (mHealth)-that is, use of mobile devices, such as mobile phones, monitoring devices, personal digital assistants, and other wireless devices, in medical care-is a promising approach to the provision of support services. mHealth may aid in facilitating monitoring of mental health conditions, offering peer support, providing psychoeducation (i.e.

Peer Support at the Intersection of Disability and Opioid (Mis)Use: Key Stakeholders Provide Essential Considerations.

Individuals with disabilities may experience higher rates of opioid/substance use disorders (OUD/SUD) than other individuals and are likely vulnerable to unmet treatment needs. Peer support may be beneficial to these individuals, given the evidence of benefits in target populations with similar needs and the potential for overcoming barriers to treatment suggested in the available literature. The objective of this exploratory study was to specify essential considerations in adapting peer support for this population.

Virtual Community Engagement Studio (V-CES): Engaging Mothers With Mental Health and Substance Use Conditions in Research.

Active engagement of community stakeholders is increasingly encouraged in behavioral health research, often described as a co-production approach. Community stakeholders (e.g.

Perspective: Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Family-Focused Practice With Parents With Mental Illness and Their Families.

The goal of this perspective piece is to suggest challenges to family-focused practice with parents with mental illness and their children that have emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic. We discuss implications for practice, policy, and research that will benefit from rigorous study in the future, as we sift through lessons learned. The impact of the pandemic on the mental health and well-being of people around the world has been documented.

The ParentingWell Practice Approach: Adaptation of Let's Talk About Children for Parents With Mental Illness in Adult Mental Health Services in the United States.

Background: Despite the importance of family and parent-focused practice, there has been a dearth of research on interventions for parents with mental illness. This paper describes the process and outcome of adapting an evidence-based intervention, Let's Talk about Children (LTC), in the context of adult mental health services in Massachusetts, United States.

Methods: Specific objectives included: (1) to specify the core components, functions, and principles of LTC essential to adapting the intervention (i.

Editorial Perspective: Prato Research Collaborative for change in parent and child mental health - principles and recommendations for working with children and parents living with parental mental illness.

Children whose parents have mental illnesses are among the most vulnerable in our communities. There is however, much that can be done to prevent or mitigate the impact of a parent's illness on children. Notwithstanding the availability of several evidence-based interventions, efforts to support these children have been limited by a lack of adequate support structures.

Virtual Engagement in a Social Media Community of Mothers With Substance Use Disorders: Content Analysis.

Background: Co-occurring substance use disorder is common among pregnant and parenting women with mental illness, but their engagement with and utilization of relevant services and treatment is low. Social media has the potential to convey benefits and facilitate engagement among this target group.

Objective: This study aimed to explore the reach and engagement of specific social media posts among pregnant women and mothers with substance use disorders.

Barriers and Facilitators to Implementation of Value-Based Care Models in New Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations in Massachusetts: A Study Protocol.

Massachusetts established 17 new Medicaid accountable care organizations (ACOs) and 24 affiliated Community Partners (CPs) in 2018 as part of a large-scale healthcare reform effort to improve care value. The new ACOs will receive $1.8 billion dollars in state and federal funding over 5 years through the Delivery System Reform Incentive Program (DSRIP).

The ParentingWell Learning Collaborative Feasibility Study: Training Adult Mental Health Service Practitioners in a Family-Focused Practice Approach.

This study investigates the feasibility and impact of the ParentingWell Learning Collaborative (PWLC) model in supporting mental health practitioners in implementing the family-focused ParentingWell practice approach with adults with mental illness. An exploratory design and qualitative methods were employed. Practitioners (n = 29) participated in in-person orientation, training and debriefing sessions; virtual coaching sessions; and via an interactive online hub.

Do disability, parenthood, and gender matter for health disparities?: A US population-based study.

Background: Existing research has documented adverse health outcomes among parents with disabilities relative to parents without disabilities, but little is known about whether parenthood adds unique stress and health consequences for people with disabilities. Less is known about whether the effects of parenthood differ between mothers and fathers with disabilities.

Objectives: This paper examined health-related quality of life, obesity, and health behaviors between US parents and nonparents with and without disabilities.

Key Informants Specify Core Elements of Peer Supports for Parents With Serious Mental Illness.

Researchers have documented the lack of evidence-based interventions for parents with serious mental illness (SMI). Given the prevalence of parenthood among individuals with SMI, the value placed on parenthood, and their diverse vulnerabilities, a robust, theoretically sound and empirically tested model of peer supports would likely provide a valuable complement to psychiatric services. In this paper, we lay the groundwork for a model of peer supports using a program theory development process and guided by stages of evidence-informed innovation outlined by the National Implementation Research Network.

The WorkingWell Mobile Phone App for Individuals With Serious Mental Illnesses: Proof-of-Concept, Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study.

Background: The disparities in employment for individuals with serious mental illnesses have been well documented, as have the benefits of work. Mobile technology can provide accessible in-the-moment support for these individuals. The WorkingWell mobile app was developed to meet the need for accessible follow-along supports for individuals with serious mental illnesses in the workplace.