"The Italian Study on Recovery 2" Phase 1: Psychometric Properties of the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS), Italian Validation of the Recovery Assessment Scale.

Background: The achievement of recovery is related to the notion of developing personal potential and restoring a legitimate social role, even against the backdrop of mental illness limitations. It is still difficult to fully understand this highly subjective and dynamic process. Therefore, in order to test the recovery process, specific tools, still only marginally used in our country, are needed.

Using the theory of planned behavior to improve treatment adherence in Mexican Americans with schizophrenia.

Objective: Failure to adhere to treatment with antipsychotic medication is the most common cause of relapse among patients with schizophrenia. A novel multifamily group (MFG) intervention, informed by the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), demonstrated efficacy in increasing medication adherence and decreasing rehospitalizations in schizophrenia patients. This report explores the hypothesis that the improved outcomes obtained through the MFG approach were mediated by changes in the patients' attitudes toward medications, subjective norms-social influences, and perceived behavioral control of resources.

Illness self-management for individuals in acute psychiatric care settings in Japan: cross-cultural adaptation of an American program.

Objective: To examine whether the challenges of a cross-national adaptation of an American, evidence-based, illness self-management module for people with serious mental illnesses could be met. The UCLA Medication Management Module was adapted for use in Japan with individuals experiencing short-stay, acute care in an inpatient setting.

Method: Two evaluations were conducted with 37 and 63 persons diagnosed as having schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, respectively, to test the feasibility and impact of the module as an intervention for illness self- management in an academic, Japanese psychiatric unit.

The ability of multifamily groups to improve treatment adherence in Mexican Americans with schizophrenia.

Context: Evidence-based interventions to improve medication adherence among patients with schizophrenia are lacking. Although family psychoeducation has demonstrated efficacy in improving outcomes in schizophrenia, empirical support for its ability to enhance medication adherence is scarce.

Objective: To determine whether a culturally adapted, multifamily group (MFG) therapy would increase medication adherence and decrease psychiatric hospitalizations for Spanish-speaking Mexican Americans with schizophrenia.

Commentary: Interventions based on learning principles can supplant seclusion and restraint.

Regulatory and administrative imperatives, when paired with staff training in humanistic, verbally mediated interventions can reduce the frequency of seclusion and restraint but can be associated with increases in the frequency and severity of staff injury, with concomitant tension and apprehension in the treatment setting. Even when educational programs for staff are made available for patient-centered, therapeutic, and persuasion-based modes of de-escalation, aggression, destructiveness and self-injury may continue to occur or even increase. Administrative contingencies can lead to less reporting of such incidents by staff with consequential, adverse effects on their morale and the unit milieu.

Application in Mexico of psychosocial rehabilitation with schizophrenia patients.

To determine whether evidence-based, psychosocial treatments developed in the United States and England are applicable to Mexican outpatients with schizophrenia, the present study was carried out to evaluate the relative effectiveness of family psycho-education and psychosocial skills training added to customary treatment vs. customary treatment alone. Clinically stable outpatients with schizophrenia participated in a 12-month randomized, controlled trial at the National Institute of Psychiatry in Mexico City.

Vocational outcomes of an integrated supported employment program for individuals with persistent and severe mental illness.

We examined the effectiveness of an integrated supported employment (ISE) program, which augments Individual Placement & Support (IPS) with social skills training (SST) in helping individuals with SMI achieve and maintain employment. A total of 163 participants were randomly assigned to three vocational rehabilitation programs: ISE, IPS, and traditional vocational rehabilitation (TVR). After fifteen months of services, ISE participants had significantly higher employment rates (78.

Consistency of Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale factor structure across a broad spectrum of schizophrenia patients.

Background: The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) has been the workhorse of psychopathology assessment in studies of schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders for over 40 years. Our goal was to evaluate the discriminant validity of the BPRS across the broad spectrum of persons with schizophrenia.

Sampling And Methods: The total sample of 565 subjects with schizophrenia (84%) or schizoaffective disorder (16%) came from eight separate studies conducted under the aegis of the UCLA Clinical Research Center for Schizophrenia and Psychiatric Rehabilitation over a period of 15 years.

Recent advances in social skills training for schizophrenia.

Social skills training consists of learning activities utilizing behavioral techniques that enable persons with schizophrenia and other disabling mental disorders to acquire interpersonal disease management and independent living skills for improved functioning in their communities. A large and growing body of research supports the efficacy and effectiveness of social skills training for schizophrenia. When the type and frequency of training is linked to the phase of the disorder, patients can learn and retain a wide variety of social and independent living skills.

An evaluation of a hybrid occupational therapy and supported employment program in Japan for persons with schizophrenia.

Objective: A vocational rehabilitation program (occupational therapy and supported employment) for promoting the return to the community of long-stay persons with schizophrenia was established at a psychiatric hospital in Japan. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the program in terms of hospitalization rates, community tenure, and social functioning with each individual serving as his or her control.

Methods: Fifty-two participants, averaging 8.

Integrating treatment with rehabilitation for persons with major mental illnesses.

Psychiatric treatment and rehabilitation are integrated, seamless approaches aimed at restoring persons with major mental disorders to their best possible level of functioning and quality of life. Driven by a thorough assessment, treatment and rehabilitation are keyed to the stage and type of each individual's disorder. Examples of coordinated treatment and rehabilitation are pharmacotherapy, supported employment, social skills training, family psychoeducation, assertive community treatment, and integrated programs for persons with dual diagnoses.

Disease management in Latinos with schizophrenia: a family-assisted, skills training approach.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a skills training program designed to teach disease management to Latinos with schizophrenia treated at a community mental health center. Ninety-two Latino outpatients with schizophrenia and their designated relatives were randomly assigned to 3 months of skills training (ST) versus customary outpatient care (CC) and followed for a total of 9 months. The skills training approach was culturally adapted mainly by including the active participation of key relatives to facilitate acquisition and generalization of disease management skills into the patients' natural environment.