What Patients With Severe Mental Illness Transitioning From Hospital to Community Have to Say About Care and Shared Decision-Making.

Shared decision-making (SDM) has been slow to disseminate in mental health. We conducted focus groups with ten individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) treated in a 90 day, outpatient transitional care clinic. Parallel groups were held with family caregivers (n = 8). Individuals with SMI wanted longer visits, to have their stories heard, more information about options presented simply, to hear from peers about similar experiences, and a bigger say in treatment choices. Caregivers wanted to be invited to participate to a larger extent.  Results suggest that after a decade, SDM may not have the expected penetration in community mental health.

A Program to Increase the Appropriate Use of Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotic Medications in Community Settings.

OBJECTIVE: The Multilevel Facilitation of Long-Acting Antipsychotic Medication Program (MAP) is a novel intervention to increase the appropriate use of long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics in community mental health clinics. The authors investigated the feasibility of MAP, facilitators and barriers to use, and preliminary impact on LAI medication use. METHODS: Two clinics in Texas and two in Ohio serving 750 and 617 individuals with schizophrenia receiving oral antipsychotics, respectively, were asked to change clinical procedures for 1 year by using either the not receiving optimum benefit (NOB) checklist or the checklist plus MAP. Providers used the NOB checklist to identify individuals who could benefit from switching to LAI antipsychotics. MAP clinics used the NOB checklist plus nonbranded academic detailing for providers and a shared-decision-making video and tool for consumers. Use of MAP components was tracked, and barriers and facilitators were collected quarterly. Antipsychotic prescription counts were provided by participating clinics. RESULTS: Barriers to use of MAP included loss of local champions and administrators, difficulty with provider buy-in, limited availability of peer specialists, and a lack of infrastructural support to integrate MAP into clinic flow. Higher scores on the NOB checklist were associated with more provider LAI medication offers and greater patient acceptance of LAI antipsychotics. LAI medication use increased in clinics over time, but it is unclear whether this increase was due to MAP. CONCLUSIONS: Changing MAP components to fit local procedures and to circumvent unique barriers could aid implementation. Further research should investigate the potential impact of MAP components on LAI medication use.

Engagement-focused care during transitions from inpatient and emergency psychiatric facilities.

OBJECTIVES: As many as 40% of those with serious mental illness (SMI) do not attend any outpatient visits in the 30 days following discharge. We examined engagement-focused care (EFC) versus treatment as usual in a university-based transitional care clinic (TCC) with a 90-day program serving individuals with SMI discharged from hospitals and emergency rooms. EFC included a unique group intake process (access group) designed to get individuals into care rapidly and a shared decision-making coach. METHODS: Assessments of quality of life, symptomatology, and shared decision-making preferences were conducted at baseline, at 3 months corresponding to the end of TCC treatment and 6 months after TCC discharge. Communication among the patients and providers was assessed at each visit as was service utilization during and after TCC. RESULTS: Subjective quality of life improved in EFC. Prescribers and patients saw communication more similarly as time went on. Ninety-one percent of patients wanted at least some say in decisions about their treatment. CONCLUSIONS: SDM coaching and improved access improve quality of life. Most people want a say in treatment decisions.

The Daily Activity Report (DAR) a Novel Measure of Functional Outcome for Serious Mental Illness.

The assessment of real-world functional outcomes in clinical trials for medications targeting negative symptoms and cognitive impairment is extremely important. We tested the psychometric properties of the Daily Activity Report (DAR), a novel assessment of productive daily activity. We administered the DAR and additional assessments of functional outcome, functional capacity, cognition and symptomatology to 50 individuals with schizophrenia at 2 time points, 1 month apart and to 25 healthy controls. The DAR records a person's daily activity for 7 consecutive days based upon phone calls made 3 times a day. A total score and scores in 3 domains; instrumental activities (ie, independent living), social and work or school related activities are generated for the DAR. Inter-item consistency was high 0.89-0.94 for each domain and 0.88 overall. Test-retest reliability across 1 month for the total DAR score was 0.67,P< .0001. The total DAR score as well as scores for social activity and nondomestic work/school differed significantly between control and patient participants (P< .0001). DAR domain scores were associated with negative symptoms and functional outcomes, but the primary score related to these measures was the work/school dimension of the DAR. DAR scores were only weakly and nonsignificantly related to positive symptoms. This study provides preliminary support for the reliability and validity of the DAR using interviewer administration. The development of a patient reported version of the DAR using smart phone technology with automatic scoring is the next step.

A randomized trial comparing in person and electronic interventions for improving adherence to oral medications in schizophrenia.

Poor adherence to medication leads to symptom exacerbation and interferes with the recovery process for patients with schizophrenia. Following baseline assessment, 142 patients in medication maintenance at a community mental health center were randomized to one of 3 treatments for 9 months: (1) PharmCAT, supports including pill containers, signs, alarms, checklists and the organization of belongings established in weekly home visits from a PharmCAT therapist; (2) Med-eMonitor (MM), an electronic medication monitor that prompts use of medication, cues the taking of medication, warns patients when they are taking the wrong medication or taking it at the wrong time, record complaints, and, through modem hookup, alerts treatment staff of failures to take medication as prescribed; (3) Treatment as Usual (TAU). All patients received the Med-eMonitor device to record medication adherence. The device was programmed for intervention only in the MM group. Data on symptoms, global functioning, and contact with emergency services and police were obtained every 3 months. Repeated measures analyses of variance for mixed models indicated that adherence to medication was significantly better in both active conditions than in TAU (both p<0.0001). Adherence in active treatments ranged from 90-92% compared to 73% in TAU based on electronic monitoring. In-person and electronic interventions significantly improved adherence to medication, but that did not translate to improved clinical outcomes. Implications for treatment and health care costs are discussed.