408 research outputs found

    Schizophrenia and alcoholism

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    Enhancing assertive community treatment with cognitive behavioral social skills training for schizophrenia: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

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    BackgroundSchizophrenia leads to profound disability in everyday functioning (e.g., difficulty finding and maintaining employment, housing, and personal relationships). Medications can effectively reduce positive symptoms (e.g., hallucinations and delusions), but they do not meaningfully improve daily life functioning. Psychosocial evidence-based practices (EBPs) improve functioning, but these EBPs are not available to most people with schizophrenia. The field must close the research and service delivery gap by adapting EBPs for schizophrenia to facilitate widespread implementation in community settings. Our hybrid effectiveness and implementation study represents an initiative to bridge this divide. In this study we will test whether an existing EBP (i.e., Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training (CBSST)) modified to work in practice settings (i.e., Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams) commonly available to persons with schizophrenia results in better consumer outcomes. We will also identify key factors relevant to developing future CBSST implementation strategies.Methods/designFor the effectiveness study component, persons with schizophrenia will be recruited from existing publicly funded ACT teams operating in community settings. Participants will be randomized to one of the 2 treatments (ACT alone or ACT + Adapted CBSST) and followed longitudinally for 18 months with assessments every 18 weeks after baseline (5 in total). The primary outcome domain is psychosocial functioning (e.g., everyday living skills and activities related to employment, education, and housing) as measured by self-report, testing, and observation. Additional outcome domains of interest include mediators of change in functioning, symptoms, and quality of services. Primary analyses will be conducted using linear mixed-effects models for continuous data. The implementation study component consists of a structured, mixed qualitative-quantitative methodology (i.e., Concept Mapping) to characterize and assess the implementation experience from multiple stakeholder perspectives in order to inform future implementation initiatives.DiscussionAdapting CBSST to fit into the ACT service delivery context found throughout the United States creates an opportunity to substantially increase the number of persons with schizophrenia who could have access to and benefit from EBPs. As part of the implementation learning process training materials and treatment workbooks have been revised to promote easier use of CBSST in the context of brief community-based ACT visits.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT02254733 . Date of registration: 25 April 2014

    Advances in fidelity measurement for mental health services research

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    The official published article is available online at http://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ps.201100430.OBJECTIVE: Mental health intervention research requires clear and accurate specification of treatment conditions in intervention studies. Measures are increasingly available for community-based interventions for persons with serious mental illnesses. Measures must go beyond structural features to assess critical processes in interventions. They must also balance effectiveness, adequate coverage of active treatment elements, with efficiency, the degree to which measures may be used cost-effectively. The context of their use is changing with the emergence of new frameworks for implementation research and quality improvement. METHODS: The focus, content, and results of preliminary studies of four recently developed fidelity measures are described. Measures respectively assess fidelity to case management, cognitive therapy for psychosis, illness management and recovery, and assertive community treatment. RESULTS: Fidelity measures described assess interventions in a range of treatment contexts from dyads to teams. Each measure focuses assessment resources on the elements critical to the respective intervention. Each has demonstrated coverage of its target intervention and satisfactory psychometric properties and is related to outcomes. Measures have been used for training, quality improvement, or certification. Current fidelity measures assess domains and have uses beyond their nominal position in implementation and quality frameworks. CONCLUSION: Process components in community-based interventions can be effectively assessed in fidelity measures. Omission of elements assessing potentially critical, active treatment components poses risk to both research and practice until there is evidence to demonstrate they are non-essential. Further development of fidelity measurement theory and approaches should articulate with development of theory and methods in implementation science

    Troubles mentaux graves et abus de substances : composantes efficaces de progammes de traitements intégrés à l’intention des personnes présentant une comorbidité

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    Les approches traditionnelles de soins pour patients souffrant de problèmes de comorbidité qui étaient fondées sur des traitements séquentiels ou en parallèle ont échoué dans les cas de santé mentale et d'abus de substance, ce qui a conduit au développement de programmes de traitements intégrés. Dans cet article, les auteurs définissent les traitements intégrés destinés aux patients ayant ce double diagnostic et identifient les composantes clés des programmes intégrés efficaces, y compris la pratique outreach, l'approche holistique, le partage de la prise de décision, la réduction des méfaits, l'engagement à long terme et le traitement par étapes (basé sur l'approche motivationnelle). Le concept d'étapes de traitement est décrit afin d'illustrer les différents stades de motivation vécus par les personnes à mesure qu'elles se rétablissent de leur dépendance aux substances : l'engagement, la persuasion, le traitement actif et la prévention des rechutes. Les étapes de traitement servent à guider les cliniciens dans l'identification d'objectifs de traitement appropriés à l'état de motivation des patients, et à choisir des interventions fondées sur ces objectifs. En reconnaissant le stade de traitement de chaque personne, les cliniciens peuvent optimiser les résultats en choisissant des interventions qui sont appropriées à l'état de motivation de la personne ou à l'étape de traitement et ainsi minimiser les abandons. Ces programmes intégrés diffèrent dans les services spécifiques qu'ils dispensent. Toutefois, ils partagent des éléments communs dans leur philosophie et leurs valeurs. Des recherches documentent les effets bénéfiques de ces programmes qui s'avèrent de bon augure pour le pronostic à long terme des personnes présentant une comorbidité.Integrated treatment for severe mental illness and substance abuse: Effective components of programs for persons with co-occurring disorders Traditional approaches to treating clients with co-occurring disorders based sequential or parallel mental health and substance abuse treatments have failed, leading to the development of integrated treatment programs. In this article we define integrated treatment for clients with co-occurring disorders, and identify the core components of effective integrated programs, including: assertive outreach, comprehensiveness, shared decision-making, harm-reduction, long-term commitment, and stage-wise (motivation-based) treatment. The concept of stages of treatment is described to illustrate the different motivational states through which clients progress as they recover from substance abuse: engagement, persuasion, active treatment, and relapse prevention. The stages of treatment have clinical utility for guiding clinicians in identifying appropriate treatment goals matched to clients' motivational states, and selecting interventions based on these goals. By recognizing each client's current stage of treatment, clinicians can optimize outcomes by selecting interventions that are appropriate to the client's current motivational state or stage of treatment, and minimize clients dropping out from treatment. Effective integrated treatment programs for clients with co-occurring disorders differ in the specific services they provide, but share common elements in their philosophy and values. Research documents the beneficial effects of these programs, which bodes well for the long-term prognosis of clients with co-occurring disorders.Turbios mentales graves y abusos de sustancias: componentes eficaces de programas de tratamiento integrados para personas presentando una comorbosidad Las aproximaciones tradicionales de cuidos de patientes sufriendo de problemas de comorbosidad fundados sobre tratamientos secuenciales o en paralelo han fracasado en el caso de salud mental y abuso de sustancias, lo que ha conducido al desarrollo de programas de tratamientos integrados. En este artículo los autores definen los tratamientos integrados destinados a patientes con este doble diagnóstico y identifican los componentes claves de programas integrados eficaces, incluyendo la practíca outreach, el aproximación holistica, el reparto de la toma de decisión, la reducción del perjuicio, compromiso a largo plazo y el tratamiento por etapas (basado sobre una aproximación motivacional). El concepto de etapas del tratamiento esta descrito para ilustrar las fases de motivación vividas por las personas al mismo tiempo que se reestablecen de su dependencia de substancia: el empeño, la persuasion, el tratamiento activo y la prevención de recaídas. Las etapas de tratamiento sirven a orientar los clínicos en la identificación de objectivo de tratamiento apropriados al estado de tratamiento de los patientes y a escoger intervenciones fundadas sobre estos objectivos. Reconociendo el estado de tratamiento de cada persona los clínicos puedent optimisar los resultados y escoger intervenciones apropriadas al estado de motivación de la persona o a la etapa de tratamiento y asi minimisar los abandonos. Estos programas integrados diferen en los servicios especificos que dispensan. Sin embargo comparten elementos comunes en su filosofía y sus valores. Investigaciones documenten efectos benificos de estos programas cuales se revelan de buen agüero para el prognostico al largo plazo de personas presentan una comorbosidad

    Neuropsychological functioning in inpatients with major depression or schizophrenia

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    Background: Studies that compare neuropsychological functioning in inpatients with mood disorder or schizophrenia come to heterogeneous results. This study aims at investigating the question whether there are different neuropsychological test profiles in stabilised post-acute inpatients with affective disorders or schizophrenia. Method: We were interested in evaluating impairment in specific areas of cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia or depression. In clinical reality, patients with depression and schizophrenia are often treated together with little attention to their specific needs. 74 patients with major depression and 38 patients with schizophrenia were assessed in a comprehensive neuropsychological battery. All patients were in a post-acute stage of their illness, i.e. remission of acute symptoms. Results: In spite of a comparable mean score of psychopathological symptoms in the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale-Expanded (BPRS-E) as well as in the Global Assessment Functioning Scale (GAF), patients with depressive disorder showed significantly better results in verbal and visual short-term memory, verbal fluency, visual-motor coordination, information processing in visual-verbal functioning and selective attention compared to patients with schizophrenia. No significant differences between both samples were found in practical reasoning, general verbal abstraction, spatial-figural functioning, speed of cognitive processing. Conclusions: These results show that there are differences in scores in psychopathology (BPRS-E, GAF) in patients with affective disorders or schizophrenia and different neuropsychological test profiles in the post-acute stage of their illness

    Do cognitive impairments limit treatment gains in a standalone digital intervention for psychosis? A test of the digital divide

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    Digital mental health interventions, such as those provided by smartphone applications (apps), show promise as cost-effective approaches to increasing access to evidence-based psychosocial interventions for psychosis. Although it is well known that limited financial resources can reduce the benefits of digital approaches to mental healthcare, the extent to which cognitive functioning in this population could impact capacity to engage in and benefit from these interventions is less studied. In the current study we examined the extent to which cognitive functioning (premorbid cognitive abilities and social cognition) were related to treatment engagement and outcome in a standalone digital intervention for social functioning. Premorbid cognitive abilities generally showed no association with aggregated treatment engagement markers, including proportion of notifications responded to and degree of interest in working on app content, though there was a small positive association with improvements in social functioning. Social cognition, as measured using facial affect recognition ability, was unrelated to treatment engagement or outcome. These preliminary findings suggest that cognitive functioning is generally not associated with engagement or outcomes in a standalone digital intervention designed for and with people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.Accepted manuscrip

    Illness Management and Recovery: A Review of the Literature

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    OBJECTIVE: Illness Management and Recovery (IMR) is a standardized psychosocial intervention that is designed to help people with severe mental illness manage their illness and achieve personal recovery goals. This literature review summarizes the research on consumer-level effects of IMR and articles describing its implementation. METHODS: In 2011, the authors conducted a literature search of Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and the Cochrane Library by using the key words “illness management and recovery,” “wellness management and recovery,” or “IMR” AND (“schizophrenia” OR “bipolar” OR “depression” OR “recovery” OR “mental health”). Publications that cited two seminal IMR articles also guided further exploration of sources. Articles that did not deal explicitly with IMR or a direct adaptation were excluded. RESULTS: Three randomized-controlled trials (RCTs), three quasi-controlled trials, and three pre-post trials have been conducted. The RCTs found that consumers receiving IMR reported significantly more improved scores on the IMR Scale (IMRS) than consumers who received treatment as usual. IMRS ratings by clinicians and ratings of psychiatric symptoms by independent observers were also more improved for the IMR consumers. Implementation studies (N=16) identified several important barriers to and facilitators of IMR, including supervision and agency support. Implementation outcomes, such as participation rates and fidelity, varied widely. CONCLUSIONS: IMR shows promise for improving some consumer-level outcomes. Important issues regarding implementation require additional study. Future research is needed to compare outcomes of IMR consumers and active control groups and to provide a more detailed understanding of how other services utilized by consumers may affect outcomes of IMR

    Factor structure of the autonomy preference index in people with severe mental illness

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    People vary in the amount of control they want to exercise over decisions about their healthcare. Given the importance of patient-centered care, accurate measurement of these autonomy preferences is critical. This study aimed to assess the factor structure of the Autonomy Preference Index (API), used widely in general healthcare, in individuals with severe mental illness. Data came from two studies of people with severe mental illness (N=293) who were receiving mental health and/or primary care/integrated care services. Autonomy preferences were assessed with the API regarding both psychiatric and primary care services. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate fit of the hypothesized two-factor structure of the API (decision-making autonomy and information-seeking autonomy). Results indicated the hypothesized structure for the API did not adequately fit the data for either psychiatric or primary care services. Three problematic items were dropped, resulting in adequate fit for both types of treatment. These results suggest that with relatively minor modifications the API has an acceptable factor structure when asking people with severe mental illness about their preferences to be involved in decision-making. The modified API has clinical and research utility for this population in the burgeoning field of autonomy in patient-centered healthcare
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