Digital interventions for substance use disorders in young people: rapid review.

Background: Young people are disproportionately more likely than other age groups to use substances. The rise in substance use and related harms, including overdose, during the Covid-19 pandemic has created a critical need for more innovative and accessible substance use interventions. Digital interventions have shown effectiveness and can provide more engaging, less stigmatizing, and accessible interventions that meet the needs of young people.

Gaming My Way to Recovery: A Systematic Scoping Review of Digital Game Interventions for Young People's Mental Health Treatment and Promotion.

Nearly all young people use the internet daily. Many youth with mental health concerns, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic, are using this route to seek help, whether through digital mental health treatment, illness prevention tools, or supports for mental wellbeing. Videogames also have wide appeal among young people, including those who receive mental health services.

Adaptive web-based stress management programs among adults with a cardiovascular disease: A pilot Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART).

Objective: To assess the feasibility and acceptability of using a Sequential Multiple Assignment Randomized Trial (SMART) to optimize the delivery of a web-based, stress management intervention for patients with a cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Methods: 59 patients with a CVD and moderate stress were randomized to a self-directed web-based stress management program (n = 30) or the same intervention plus lay telephone coaching (n = 29). After 6 weeks, non-responders were re-randomized to continue with their initial intervention or switched to motivational interviewing (MI).

Met and unmet needs of homeless individuals at different stages of housing reintegration: A mixed-method investigation.

This study aimed to identify and compare major areas of met and unmet needs reported by 455 homeless or recently housed individuals recruited from emergency shelters, temporary housing, and permanent housing in Quebec (Canada). Mixed methods, guided by the Maslow framework, were used. Basic needs were the strongest needs category identified, followed by health and social services (an emergent category), and safety; very few participants expressed needs in the higher-order categories of love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization.

Modeling variables associated with personal recovery among service users with mental disorders using community-based services.

Background: Mental health research is evolving toward the identification of conceptual models and associated variables, which may provide a better understanding of personal recovery, given its importance for individuals affected by mental disorders (MDs).

Aims: This article evaluated personal recovery in a sample of adults with MDs using an adapted conceptual framework based on the Andersen behavioral model, which evaluates predisposing, enabling and needs factors in service use.

Methods: The study design was cross-sectional and included 327 mental health service users recruited across four local health service networks in Quebec (Canada).

Work-related variables associated with perceptions of recovery-oriented care among Quebec mental health professionals.

Background: Provider working conditions are important in mental health service delivery.

Aims: To identify variables associated with perceived recovery-oriented care among mental health professionals.

Method: A total of 315 mental health professionals and 41 managers across four Quebec service networks completed questionnaires.

Emergent leadership among tenants with psychiatric disabilities living in supported housing.

The overall aim of this study was to explore the experiences of people with psychiatric disabilities living as tenants in independent, supported apartments for the first time. Supported housing provides an alternative to structured, custodial housing models, such as foster homes, or board-and-care homes, for clients in public mental health systems. This article reports findings on how leadership emerged among tenants after making the transition from custodial to supported housing.

Supported housing for adults with psychiatric disabilities: How tenants confront the problem of loneliness.

The objective of this study was to examine the experience of loneliness among people with psychiatric disabilities after moving from custodial housing, including group homes, boarding homes, and family-type residences to independent, supported apartments in the community. Qualitative research methods guided by a naturalistic/constructivist framework were used. Data collection occurred between May 2014 and July 2015 and consisted of individual semi-structured interviews with 24 tenants residing in five supported housing sites across three Canadian provinces; interviews were also conducted with a designated family member for each tenant and with their service providers.

Protocol for a mixed studies systematic review on the implementation of the recovery approach in adult mental health services.

Introduction: Recovery is integral to mental health planning in G-8 countries including Canada. A recovery-oriented approach to care aims to promote personal empowerment, illness self-management and a life beyond services for people with serious mental illness (SMI), while reducing the financial burden associated with mental illness. Although there is a growing body of literature on recovery, no synthesis of research on the implementation of recovery into mental health services exists.

(Em)placing recovery: Sites of health and wellness for individuals with serious mental illness in supported housing.

This study used photo-elicitation methodology to explore how the move from supervised to supported housing affects recovery and community connections for individuals living with serious mental illness (SMI) in four Canadian cities. Qualitative interviews conducted in 2015 revealed five themes: (1) the characteristics distinguishing home from housing; (2) the importance of amenities offered by supported housing; (3) the connections between accessibility, mobility, and wellbeing; (4) the role of certain places in facilitating aspects of recovery such as offering hope or facilitating social connectedness; and (5) the concrete and metaphorical impact of changing vantage points on identity (re)construction. Utilizing therapeutic landscapes as an analytical framework, and combining insights from the health geography, and mental health (MH) housing and recovery literatures, this study deepens current understanding of how everyday places-conceptualized as therapeutic landscapes-directly and indirectly support MH recovery for individuals with SMI.

International training programs on eating disorders for professionals, caregivers, and the general public: A scoping review.

This review identified and synthesized published training programs on eating disorders (ED) (anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa) for professionals, natural supporters of people with ED, or the public. A scoping review using the Arksey and O'Malley (2005) framework was conducted. Four data bases were searched, for all years, and manual searches from three additional sources were also conducted.

Resident and proprietor perspectives on a recovery orientation in community-based housing.

Objective: Stable housing is a fundamental human right, and an important element for both mental health recovery and social inclusion among people with serious mental illness. This article reports findings from a study on the recovery orientation of structured congregate community housing services using the Recovery Self-Assessment Questionnaire (RSA) adapted for housing (O'Connell, Tondora, Croog, Evans, & Davidson, 2005).

Methods: The RSA questionnaires were administered to 118 residents and housing providers from 112 congregate housing units located in Montreal, Canada.

Recovery in Canada: toward social equality.

This article reviews evolution of the recovery paradigm in Canadian mental health. We first trace the origins and development of the recovery concept through the literature, followed by an examination of how the recovery concept has been implemented in national and provincial mental health policy since publication of the 2006 Kirby Commission Report. Based on consultations with Canadian policymakers, and an examination of available policy documents, we explore how the dual theme of 'recovery' and 'well-being', adopted by the Mental Health Commission of Canada in its 2009 strategy: Toward Recovery and Well-being - A Framework For a Mental Health Strategy has subsequently played out in mental health policymaking at the provincial level.

"Who believes most in me and in my recovery": the importance of families for persons with serious mental illness living in structured community housing.

In this article, the authors report on qualitative findings on the role of family in supporting recovery for mental health consumers living in structured, community housing in a large Canadian city. Despite living separately from families and relying heavily on formal services, residents identified their families more often than mental health professionals, friends, and residential caregivers as those who most believe in them and their recovery. Families supported recovery by providing affection and belonging, offering emotional and instrumental support, and by staying actively involved with residents.

The transformation of mental health services to a recovery-orientated system of care: Canadian decision maker perspectives.

Background: Recovery is emerging as a worldwide paradigm in mental health. There is increasing recognition that the transformation of mental health systems to a recovery perspective requires collaboration among all stakeholders. Research to date has focused on the perspectives of service users and providers.

The Development of a Recovery-Oriented Mental Health System in Canada: What the Experience of Commonwealth Countries Tells Us.

This article examines how the recovery concept has been introduced into national mental health policies in New Zealand, Australia and the England. Five overall themes are identified as critical in shifting to a recovery-oriented system: restructuring of mental health services; promoting mental health and preventing mental illness, developing and training the workforce; cultivating consumer participation and leadership and establishing outcome-oriented and measurable practices. These issues are vital in the uptake of recovery and should guide the overall direction of the Canadian Mental Health Commission's mental health strategy.

The importance of medication in consumer definitions of recovery from serious mental illness: a qualitative study.

The role of medication in the recovery of mental health consumers is important. In the context of a multi-site Canadian study on the meaning of recovery, five themes related to medication and recovery emerged from qualitative interviews with 60 consumers. For these consumers, recovery meant: finding a medication that works; taking medication in combination with services and supports; complying with medication; having a say about medication; and living without medication.

What does recovery mean for me? Perspectives of Canadian mental health consumers.

Objective: The objective of this study was to explore the meaning of recovery from the perspectives of consumers receiving mental health services in Canada.

Methods: Sixty semi-structured interviews were conducted with 54 mental health consumers in Montreal, Québec City and Waterloo-Guelph, Ontario.

Results: Two contrasting meanings of recovery emerged.

Building life around foster home versus moving on: the competing needs of people living in foster homes.

Objective: This article reports findings on the competing needs of people living in psychiatric foster homes in Montreal, Canada.

Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 33 residents. Consumers describe the tensions associated with foster home life.

From the real frontline: the unique contributions of mental health caregivers in Canadian foster homes.

This article reports the findings of a qualitative study on the contribution of foster home caregivers for people with serious mental illness. Traditionally, social workers have played a key role in the supervision of foster homes. Little is known about how the help caregivers provide is similar to, or different from, that provided by mental health professionals.

The values and qualities of being a good helper: a qualitative study of adult foster home caregivers for persons with serious mental illness.

Background: Canadian foster homes for adults with serious mental illness are operated by non-professional caregivers, usually women, whose mandate is to support residents and reintegrate them into the community. While mental health professionals recognize that adult foster homes are an important service for this population, there is little understanding of how caregivers impact on the lives of their residents.

Aims And Objectives: This article draws on the findings of a larger study which examined both caregiver and resident perspectives on the helping relationship in adult foster homes.