Socially Valued Roles, Self-Determination, and Community Participation among Individuals Living with Serious Mental Illnesses.

Decades after deinstitutionalization, individuals living with serious mental illnesses remain isolated, socially disengaged, and devalued members of communities. Burgeoning research and services need conceptual clarity to improve such social conditions. This qualitative inquiry used grounded theory and participatory approaches to conduct an in-depth exploration of community participation for individuals living with serious mental illnesses based on key stakeholder perspectives (n = 45).

Personal and societal benefits of providing peer support: a survey of peer support specialists.

Objective: Peer-delivered services have burgeoned, and evidence of the effectiveness of peer support is increasing. However, the potential benefits to peer support specialists (PSSs) themselves are not as well understood. The authors conducted a survey of PSSs to examine potential benefits.

Results of an innovative university-based recovery education program for adults with psychiatric disabilities.

This study examined the effectiveness of an educational approach to psychiatric rehabilitation called the Recovery Center. Using a quasi-experimental design we recruited 97 intervention and 81 comparison participants and examined the intervention's impact on health, mental health, subjective, and role functioning outcomes. Results suggested that this intervention was effective in improving subjective outcomes, especially empowerment and recovery attitudes, both of which received primary emphasis in the intervention.