Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills Research Articles

Individual Resiliency Training: An Early Intervention Approach to Enhance Well-Being in People with First-Episode Psychosis

Early intervention treatment programs have begun to play an increasingly important role in improving long-term outcomes for people with psychosis. These programs focus on helping people achieve recovery through reducing the risk of relapse, improving illness self-management skills, and making progress toward a meaningful life. This article describes Individual Resiliency Training (IRT), the individual therapy component of the Recovery After Initial Schizophrenia Episode Early Treatment Program (RAISE-ETP). As part of a comprehensive specialty care program for people with first-episode psychosis (FEP), IRT uses a strengths-based approach that focuses on progress toward individual recovery goals, as well as improving social functioning and overall well-being. IRT addresses recovery by engaging in illness self-management, Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Psychosis, and psychiatric rehabilitation skills. Two illustrative cases show how people can use information and skills within the IRT modules to make progress toward recovery and learn individualized skills to address common challenges. Within a coordinated specialty care program, IRT provides strategies and skills that promote recovery and resiliency, and shows promise toward improved illness outcomes for people with FEP. [ Psychiatr Ann . 2015;45(11):554–560.]

More Fundamentally Human than Otherwise

Beal and her colleagues are to be commended, and congratulated, for venturing forth in exploring the everyday experiences of people with serious mental illnesses as they go about meeting the challenges of establishing lives for themselves in the community following extended inpatient care. As community integration increasingly becomes the goal of community mental health services, the relatively uncharted territory of how people with severe and persistent mental illness navigate their immediate social environments becomes both a timely and important focus for empirical study. The contribution of Beal and her colleagues advances a growing body of research in this area describing various processes involved in the person’s efforts to manage his or her psychiatric condition as he or she goes about trying to reclaim his or her life. In addition to those references cited in Beal et al.’s paper, this body of research includes work by Barham (1992, and with Hayward, 1998), Corin (1990, 1998, and with Lauzon, 1992, 1994), Davidson and colleagues (1992, 1995, 1997, 2001, 2001, 2003; Sells, 2004), Estroff (1989, 1994, 1995a, 1995b), Lovell (1997), Ridgway (2001), and others. I would like, briefly, to consider the specific contribution of Beal and her colleagues within this broader context. Several of the findings of this study are noteworthy. First, the investigators note that people with schizophrenia need to “venture forth” into the world in order to “connect” to others, even though at times these others may be virtual or delusional in nature. Second, they describe ways in which environmental factors, activities, objects, and past experiences may be used to facilitate these processes of venturing forth and connecting, as well as some ways in which they might impede these processes. Finally, they recognize that the processes they have identified and described in the lives of people with schizophrenia being discharged from long–term inpatient care “should be seen as relatively normal ones and as part of the struggle we all face in living in the world together.” In other words, people with schizophrenia appear to engage in the same strategies for navigating community life that the rest of us (i.e., those of us who do not have schizophrenia) engage in when we find ourselves in similar circumstances (e.g., being newly relocated or visiting a foreign country for the first time). Although the investigators present their findings in this order, we would like to reverse their order of consideration in Psychiatry 68(3) Fall 2005 243

A longitudinal study of employment and skill acquisition among individuals with developmental disabilities

Recent legislation, especially the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990, generated the closure of institutions for people with disabilities and inclusion into community residences and employment. It has been well documented that individuals with developmental disabilities often experience difficulties with employment including both obtaining and maintaining jobs, and many researchers have looked for ways to make employment more successful [McConkey, R. & Mezza F. (2001). Employment aspirations of people with learning disabilities attending day centers. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 5(4), 309–318; Stevens, G. (2002). Employers’ perceptions and practice in the employability of disabled people: a survey of companies in south east UK. Disability and Society, 17(7), 779–796; Capella, M., Roessler, R., & Hemmeria, K. (2002). Work-related skills awareness in high-school students with disabilities. Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, 33(2), 17–23; Ingraham, K., Rahimi, M., Tsang, H., Chan, F., & Oulvey, E. (2001). Work support groups in state vocational rehabilitation agency settings: a case study. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills, 5(1), 6–21; Gosling, V. & Cotterill, L. (2000). An employment project as a route to social inclusion for people with learning difficulties? Disability and Society, 15(7), 1001–1018; Neitupski, J. & Hamre-Nietupski, S. (2000). A systematic process for carving supported employment positions for people with severe disabilities. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 12(2), 103–119]. While research has accumulated that has examined predictors of successful employment, this research assessed longitudinal outcomes of employment. Data were obtained from an existing data set of all known persons receiving services from the Developmental Disabilities Division of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services ( N = 2760). Results indicated that as people moved to employment, scores on adaptive skills increased, that as people moved from employment, adaptive skills decreased, and that as employment status remained constant, adaptive skills also remained unchanged. No consistent impact was found on challenging behaviors. Type of employment (sheltered, supported, and competitive) was then examined, and the same pattern of changes in adaptive skills was found; i.e., changes in employment to more/less competitive was accompanied by more/less adaptive skills. This suggests that employment itself, especially work in the competitive workforce, may be a significant source of enhancing adaptive skills for people with developmental disabilities and, thus, greatly adding to the success of community living.

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 6, Number 3

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 6, Number 3

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 6, Number 2

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 6, Number 2

Stigma and Severe Mental Illness: Introduction to the Special Series

(2002). Stigma and Severe Mental Illness: Introduction to the Special Series. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills: Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 131-133.

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 6, Number 1

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 6, Number 1

Web-based education in psychiatric rehabilitation

(2001). Web-based education in psychiatric rehabilitation. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills: Vol. 5, No. 3, pp. 548-571.

Introduction to the special issue: Overview of misa dual diagnosis and treatment

(2001). Introduction to the special issue: Overview of misa dual diagnosis and treatment. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills: Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 22-28.

Work support groups in state vocational rehabilitation agency settings: A case study

(2001). Work support groups in state vocational rehabilitation agency settings: A case study. Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills: Vol. 5, No. 1, pp. 6-21.

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 4, Number 3

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 4, Number 3

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 4, Number 2

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 4, Number 2

What Does it Take to Transfer Training?

Abstract Staff training is a necessary component in psychiatric rehabilitation programs, providing the basis of a skilled and integrated workforce. However, it has been found repeatedly that training is not sufficient to result in an improved quality of care for clients. What is required to make training effective is a parallel emphasis upon the organizational context within which these trained skills are to be applied. The present paper provides a review of the contextual factors that contribute to training effectiveness. A case study of the transfer of staff training (N=10) in psychiatric rehabilitation skills illustrates several of these factors. Conclusions are drawn about the factors that contribute to successful transfer of training, and about future research requirements.

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 4, Number 1

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 4, Number 1

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 3, Number 2

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 3, Number 2

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 3, Number 1

Editorial board page for “Psychiatric Rehabilitation Skills”, Volume 3, Number 1