Use of intervention strategies by assertive community treatment teams to promote patients' engagement.

OBJECTIVE: This study explored the range of interventions and the use of more intrusive techniques by staff of assertive community treatment (ACT) teams to promote engagement, manage problem behaviors, and reinforce positive behaviors among patients. Individual and organizational characteristics that may be associated with these practices were identified. METHODS: Between January and March 2006, clinicians (N=239) from 34 ACT teams participated in a one-time survey about their intervention strategies with patients, perceptions about the ACT team environment, and beliefs about persons with severe mental illness. RESULTS: Significant variation existed in the types of interventions employed across teams. The less intrusive strategies, including positive inducements and verbal guidance, were the most common. Other strategies that placed limits on patients but that were still considered less intrusive-such as medication monitoring and money management-were also common. Clinicians who reported working in more demoralized climates and having negative perceptions of mental illness were more likely to endorse leveraged or intrusive interventions. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest significant variation across teams in the use of intervention strategies. Both perceptions of a demoralized organizational climate and stigmatizing beliefs about mental illness were correlated with the use of more intrusive intervention strategies. Future research on the role and appropriateness of more intrusive interventions in mental health treatment and the impact of such interventions on patient outcomes is warranted.

Public psychiatry fellowships: a developing network of public-academic collaborations.

In response to the expanding public behavioral health care system, a network of 15 public-community psychiatry fellowships has developed over the past six years. The fellowship directors meet yearly to sustain and develop fellowships to recruit and retain psychiatrists in the public sector. This column describes five types of public-academic collaborations on which the fellowships are based. The collaborations focus on structural and fiscal arrangements; recruitment and retention; program evaluation, program research, and policy; primary care integration; and career development. These collaborations serve to train psychiatrists who will play a key role in the rapidly evolving health care system.

Techniques used by assertive community treatment (ACT) teams to encourage adherence: patient and staff perceptions.

Assertive community treatment (ACT) has become a cornerstone of care for people with serious mental illnesses. But it has also been suggested that ACT is an inherently coercive approach, with a variety of techniques, including leverage, frequently employed to encourage treatment adherence. Staff and patients of 4 ACT teams participated in focus groups exploring their experiences with and opinions about the use of these techniques in ACT. Little evidence was found of significant use of leverage or perceptions of coercion. Instead both groups reported that supporting patients and building relationships were the preferred mechanisms for promoting treatment goals. This study suggests that ACT need not appear to either staff or patients as an intrinsically coercive model for the delivery of mental health services.