Development and evaluation of a webinar to reduce stigma toward people with serious mental illness.

Objective: This study involved the development, dissemination, and pre- and postassessment of a mental illness awareness webinar. The goal of the webinar is to educate the general public about serious mental illness (SMI) and reduce stigmatizing attitudes.

Method: The study included 203 participants ( = 101 treatment group; = 102 control group).

Fostering the community participation of individuals with psychiatric disabilities: Effectiveness of a new peer-led photovoice-based intervention.

Objective: Having meaningful social roles and full community participation have been examined as a central tenet of the recovery paradigm. We undertook this study to test a new multimodal, peer-led intervention, which we have developed with the aim of fostering the self-efficacy of individuals with psychiatric disabilities to pursue involvement in community activities of their choice.

Method: We evaluated the effectiveness of the 6-month manualized peer-delivered "Bridging Community Gaps Photovoice (BCGP)" program with a multisite randomized trial ( = 185), with recipients of services at five community mental health programs.

"We don't get a chance to prove who we really are": A qualitative inquiry of workplace prejudice and discrimination among Black adults with serious mental illness.

Objective: Studies focused on prejudice and discrimination have traditionally explored the impact of one kind of prejudicial experience (e.g., race, gender, criminal history) within a particular context and thus, there is weak base of understanding about the experiences of individuals who may contend with concurrent prejudicial and/or discriminatory experiences across multiple characteristics.

Building organizational readiness: initial field testing of an expert-informed typology of implementation strategies.

Background: Organizational readiness is a known barrier to implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) in community mental health services. A robust methodology for enhancing organizational readiness for implementation (ORI) has the potential to improve implementation outcomes of EBPs and ensure better services for people with a psychiatric disability. Prior work established a framework of implementation strategies targeting ORI enhancement by asking a group of implementation experts from various fields to categorize strategies from the "Expert Recommendations for Implementing Change" (ERIC) Project into three readiness stages, consistent with the pre-action stages of the Transtheoretical Model of behavioral change: Pre-contemplation, Contemplation, and Preparation.

The interrelationships of motivation, positive symptoms, stigma, and role functioning in early psychosis.

Aim: Avolition, or the lack of motivation, has consistently been shown to be a significant predictor of poor psychosocial outcome, with decreased overall motivation as the single strongest predictor of poor work or school outcome in first episode psychosis. This study aimed to better understand the ways in which motivation impacts work and school functioning. This study first examined the factors related to motivation in people recovering from a recent onset of psychosis, then explored the unique interrelationships between positive symptoms, stigma, and motivation and how they influence role functioning.

Enhancing organizational readiness for implementation: constructing a typology of readiness-development strategies using a modified Delphi process.

Background: Knowledge about the development of organizational readiness for implementation (ORI) is limited. ORI, referred to as the willingness and capacity of all relevant stakeholders to change practice, is critical for increasing the adoption rate of evidence-based practices and improving implementation outcomes. However, no methodology currently guides ORI's enhancement or addresses differences in readiness needs across an organization.

Predictors of community-based employment for young adults with intellectual disability and co-occurring mental health conditions.

Purpose: To identify predictors of community-based employment and employment quality for young adults ages 23-30 with intellectual disability and co-occurring mental health conditions (YA-ID-MH).

Methods: We conducted secondary analysis of the 2017-2018 National Core Indicators (NCI) In-Person Survey. The NCI survey was conducted in 35 states and Washington DC.

Development of a comprehensive inventory of community participation for individuals with psychiatric disabilities.

Objective: The social lives of individuals with psychiatric conditions are often characterized by isolation and a lack of meaningful engagement in communities of their choice. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a comprehensive and multidimensional measure of community participation for use in research, evaluation, and service provision.

Method: We conducted this study in phases beginning with conceptual activities and culminating in the psychometric testing of the reliability and validity of the Inventory of Community Participation for individuals with Mental Health conditions (ICP-MH).

Defining Employment Specialist Competencies: Results of a Participatory Research Study.

The preponderance of research conducted on supported employment has focused on the structure of interventions with little empirical investigation into the contribution of employment specialists to work outcomes. Using a participatory approach, we identified competencies essential to the role of the employment specialists, operationalized and refined those competencies using the perspectives of experts, service recipients, and employment specialists themselves. We conducted an online survey with 34 candidate items and n = 142 respondents.

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).

Predictors of Sustained Employment Among Individuals With Serious Mental Illness: Findings From a 5-Year Naturalistic Longitudinal Study.

Despite decades of research, understanding of the employment trajectories of individuals with serious mental illnesses remains elusive. We conducted a 5-year prospective, longitudinal study using a geographically broad sample of individuals who met established criteria for sustained competitive employment (N = 529). We collected data on an annual basis with a specifically designed survey instrument.

Empowering individuals with psychiatric disabilities to work: Results of a randomized trial.

Objective: Supported employment has experienced immense growth as an evidence-based intervention targeting the disproportionately high rates of unemployment among individuals with psychiatric disabilities who actively want to work. However, employment services are often not available to individuals who are ambivalent about work or lack work self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to pilot-test the efficacy of a new peer-run photography-based group intervention (Vocational Empowerment Photovoice [VEP]) designed to empower individuals with psychiatric disabilities to consider employment services and pursue work.

Using Photovoice and Asset Mapping to Inform a Community-Based Diabetes Intervention, Boston, Massachusetts, 2015.

Introduction: Diabetes self-management takes place within a complex social and environmental context.  This study's objective was to examine the perceived and actual presence of community assets that may aid in diabetes control.

Methods: We conducted one 6-hour photovoice session with 11 adults with poorly controlled diabetes in Boston, Massachusetts.

Patient navigation and financial incentives to promote smoking cessation in an underserved primary care population: A randomized controlled trial protocol.

Despite the high risk of tobacco-related morbidity and mortality among low-income persons, few studies have connected low-income smokers to evidence-based treatments. We will examine a smoking cessation intervention integrated into primary care. To begin, we completed qualitative formative research to refine an intervention utilizing the services of a patient navigator trained to promote smoking cessation.

Recovery narrative photovoice: Feasibility of a writing and photography intervention for serious mental illnesses.

Objective: The primary purpose of this article is to describe the development and feasibility of the Recovery Narrative Photovoice intervention. The nature of this intervention will be discussed, including facilitating empowerment and a positive sense of identity among people with serious mental illnesses. We will also describe the integration of Photovoice methodology with psychoeducational components, informed by principles of the recovery movement and narrative therapy.

New roads paved on losses: photovoice perspectives about recovery from mental illness.

People with serious mental illness face stigma that interferes with recovery. Photovoice is a method that integrates photography and writing, providing a valuable means for capturing the narratives of people with mental illness whose voices are often marginalized. The purpose of the present article is to explore the meaning of recovery for individuals with serious mental illness based on a qualitative analysis of a new photovoice-based intervention, Recovery Narrative Photovoice.

Barriers to and facilitators of the acceptance process for individuals with serious mental illness.

The process of acceptance of mental illness is a central component of recovery and has been linked to functioning, illness management, and quality of life. A number of barriers and facilitators have been theorized as impacting this process. This study was conducted with 30 participants with serious mental illness (a major psychiatric disorder with impairment in multiple areas of functioning) to elicit the barriers to and facilitators of the acceptance of mental illness.

A randomized controlled trial of a peer-run antistigma photovoice intervention.

Objective: Psychiatric stigma is a major barrier to the recovery of persons with serious mental illnesses. This study tested the efficacy of an innovative peer-run photography-based intervention, called antistigma photovoice, which targets self-stigma and promotes proactive coping with public stigma.

Methods: A total of 82 individuals with serious mental illnesses enrolled at a university-based recovery center were randomly assigned to the antistigma photovoice program or to a wait-list control group.

Acceptance of mental illness: core components of a multifaceted construct.

The recovery movement has identified acceptance of mental illness as critical to quality of life and illness management. However, there is a general lack of research on the acceptance of mental illness. The present qualitative study was conducted with 30 participants with mental illness to clarify the construct of acceptance.

Motivations of persons with psychiatric disabilities to work in mental health peer services: a qualitative study using self-determination theory.

Introduction: Individuals with psychiatric disabilities have low rates of employment and occupational rehabilitation success. Mental health peer services are a new occupational modality that opened a promising occupational path: persons with serious mental illnesses employed to provide support to others with psychiatric conditions. However challenges to successful peer work exist.

Conceptualization and measurement of mental health providers' recovery-promoting competence: the recovery promoting relationships scale (RPRS).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to construct and validate an instrument that measures practitioners' competence to promote the recovery among individuals with psychiatric disabilities from the perspective of the person served. Items were developed based upon input from individuals served and practitioners as well as the extant literature on recovery. "Recovery-promoting competence" was conceptualized as a set of practitioner capabilities that promote the recovery process and enhance the working alliance.

Challenges experienced by paid peer providers in mental health recovery: a qualitative study.

Peer providers are increasingly employed in mental health services. We explored challenges experienced by 31 peer providers in diverse settings and roles using in-depth interviews, as part of a larger study focusing on their recovery (Moran et al. in Qual Health Res, 2012).

Toward understanding the impact of occupational characteristics on the recovery and growth processes of peer providers.

Objective: Peer providers experience unique recovery and growth processes. This study examines the relationship of these processes with multiple occupational characteristics related to peer work. Outcomes are examined using positive psychology concepts: psychological well-being, posttraumatic growth, and generativity, as well as established recovery and empowerment measures.

Benefits and mechanisms of recovery among peer providers with psychiatric illnesses.

Providing peer support to individuals with psychiatric disabilities has emerged as a promising modality of mental health services. These services are delivered by individuals who experience mental illnesses themselves. The purpose of this study was to explore how working as a peer provider can enhance personal recovery.

Recovery-promoting professional competencies: perspectives of mental health consumers, consumer-providers and providers.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to empirically validate a set of conceptually derived recovery-promoting competencies from the perspectives of mental health consumers, consumer-providers and providers.

Methods: A national sample of 603 consumers, 153 consumer-providers and 239 providers completed an anonymous survey via the Internet. The survey evaluated respondents' perceptions about a set of 37 competencies hypothesized to enhance clients' hope and empowerment and inquired about interactions with providers that enhanced clients' recovery process.