Psychometric properties of the mock interview rating scale for schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses.

Background: Over the past 10 years, job interview training has emerged as an area of study among adults with schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses who face significant challenges when navigating job interviews. The field of mental health services research has limited access to assessments of job interview skills with rigorously evaluated psychometric properties.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the initial psychometric properties of a measure assessing job interview skills via role-play performance.

Impact of COVID-19 on services for people with disabilities and chronic health conditions.

Background: People with disabilities and chronic health conditions rely on a range of services and supports to complete daily tasks, maintain health, and participate in the community. Preliminary research suggests the COVID-19 pandemic greatly disrupted these services and this population may be particularly susceptible to unemployment.

Objective: Describe employment and service disruptions for individuals with disabilities and chronic health conditions during the onset of community-based spread of COVID-19 in the United States.

Participants' lived experience of pursuing personal goals in the Illness Management and Recovery program.

Background: The Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) program is designed to support people diagnosed with severe mental illness in developing tailored illness-management skills and to pursue personal goals. Although IMR is a goal-oriented program, little is know about the participants' experience of goal-setting as part of IMR.

Aim: To describe participants' lived experience of personal goal-setting as part of the Illness Management and Recovery program (IMR).

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.

Participants' Lived Experience with the Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) Program in Relation to their Recovery-Process.

The Illness Management and Recovery program (IMR) is developed to support people with severe mental illnesses in their recovery-process. The theory behind the program highlight the importance of helping people develop tailored illness management skills which will help achieve personal and clinical recovery. However, little is known about participants' experience with IMR in relation to their recoveryprocess.

Illness management and recovery: one-year follow-up of a randomized controlled trial in Danish community mental health centers: long-term effects on clinical and personal recovery.

Background: Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) is a curriculum-based rehabilitation program for people with severe mental illness with the short-term aim of improving illness self-management and the long-term aim of helping people achieve clinical and personal recovery.

Method: Participants with schizophrenia or bipolar disorders were recruited from three community mental health centers in the Capital Region of Denmark and randomized to receive group-based IMR and treatment as usual or only the usual intervention. All outcomes were assessed at baseline, postintervention, and the one-year follow-up.

Impact of comprehensive treatment for first episode psychosis on substance use outcomes: A randomized controlled trial.

Lifetime co-occurring substance use disorders are common at the time of presentation for treatment of a first episode of primary psychosis and persistent substance use disorder (SUD) leads to poorer outcomes. We assessed whether the NAVIGATE program, a coordinated specialty care service that includes optional substance abuse content reduced substance use compared to usual care in 404 individuals in the Recovery After Initial Schizophrenia Episode-Early Treatment Program (RAISE-ETP) study. Participants were randomized to two years of NAVIGATE (n = 223) or usual care (n = 181) and assessed monthly for substance use.

The impact of domestic violence exposure on South Asian children in the United States: Perspectives of domestic violence agency staff.

The South Asian community is the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States, and past research suggests that South Asian domestic violence (DV) survivors may require culturally-specific resources. Similarly, South Asian children in the US exposed to DV may have unique responses and needs, but this has not been explored to date. The objective of this study was to examine the specific needs of South Asian children exposed to DV from the vantage point of staff from South Asian DV agencies across the United States.

Predictors of response to cognitive remediation in service recipients with severe mental illness.

Objective: Cognitive challenges are prominent features of individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia, impairing occupational, social, and economic functioning. These challenges are predictive of social and work outcomes. Cognitive remediation has been shown to be effective in improving both cognitive and social functions.

Facilitating Partner Support for Lifestyle Change Among Adults with Serious Mental Illness: A Feasibility Pilot Study.

The purpose of this pilot study was to explore the feasibility of an intervention designed to facilitate partner support for lifestyle change among overweight and obese adults with serious mental illness (SMI). Fifteen adults with SMI enrolled in a lifestyle intervention at community mental health centers participated with a self-selected partner in an additional 12-week intervention component designed to facilitate social support for health behavior change. Participants reported that the program was useful, convenient, and helped them reach their goals.

Feasibility Study of Increasing Social Support to Enhance a Healthy Lifestyle Intervention for Individuals with Serious Mental Illness.

Objective: Healthy lifestyle interventions addressing obesity in people with serious mental illness (SMI) lead to modest weight losses that tend not to be sustained over time. By augmenting lifestyle interventions with family and peer support targeting health behavior change, greater weight loss might be obtained and sustained in this population. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of increasing support from family and friends to enhance a healthy lifestyle intervention (In SHAPE) adapted for individuals with SMI.

Posttraumatic Growth in Psychosis.

Objective: Recent research has shown high rates of exposure to trauma among people with serious mental illness (SMI). In addition, studies suggest that psychosis and mental illness-related experiences can be extremely traumatic. While some individuals develop full blown PTSD related to these experiences, it has been noted that some may also experience posttraumatic growth (PTG).

A confirmatory factor analysis of the MATRICS consensus cognitive battery in severe mental illness.

Background: A recent factor analysis of Measurement and Treatment Research to Improve Cognition in Schizophrenia (MATRICS) Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) data in a sample of schizophrenia-spectrum patients described a three factor model representing processing speed, attention/working memory, and learning; the social cognition measure was excluded from the analysis. The current analyses sought to replicate a three factor structure of the MCCB in a larger, more diagnostically diverse sample of participants.

Methods: Confirmatory factor analyses were performed to evaluate the factor structure of the MCCB in 300 outpatients with severe mental illness (54.

Family-Directed Cognitive Adaptation Pilot: Teaching Cognitive Adaptation to Families of Individuals with Schizophrenia.

Cognitive deficits are a major determinant of functional outcome in schizophrenia. A promising treatment involves teaching individuals to use cognitive adaptation strategies to minimize the functional impact of cognitive difficulties. We developed Family Directed Cognitive Adaptation (FCA) to train caregivers to help their relatives with schizophrenia use cognitive adaptations to improve living skills.

Social predictors of cessation treatment use among smokers with serious mental illness.

Objective: Social factors play an important role in quitting smoking in the general population, but relatively little is known about social influences on smoking cessation efforts among individuals with serious mental illness who suffer disproportionately high rates of smoking. This study examined social factors as predictors of using smoking cessation treatment among adults with serious mental illness.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of data from a randomized study comparing two versions of a motivational decision support system for smoking cessation treatment including 124 smokers with schizophrenia or severe mood disorders.

The potential of technology for enhancing individual placement and support supported employment.

Topic: The potential of technology to enhance delivery and outcomes of Individual Placement and Support (IPS) supported employment.

Purpose: IPS supported employment has demonstrated robust success for improving rates of competitive employment among individuals with psychiatric disabilities. Still, a majority of those with serious mental illnesses are not employed (Bond, Drake, & Becker, 2012).