Promoting Recovery from Mental Illness: Tools for Community Programs

Abstract

The ACT Center of Indiana is a research and training center devoted to helping promote recovery from severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. We focus on interventions that are based on the best research evidence, and we emphasize ways to translate research into actual practice. One important way to ensure evidence-based practices in community settings is the use of reliable and valid tools to monitor program fidelity, i.e., how well programs are following a specific model of practice. We will describe fidelity monitoring tools and practices at the program level (ACT fidelity in Indiana and in the VA) and at the clinician level (Shared decision making and Illness Management and Recovery-Treatment Integrity). We will describe current research studies implementing these tools, and provide examples of the fidelity measures.