Consumer/Family Evidence-Based Practice, Fidelity, and Quality Assessment
This project involves the development of user-friendly tools to allow consumers and their family members to assess whether a program's services meet standards for evidence-based practice (EBP) and also support recovery from mental illness. Many fidelity tools have been developed for research and administrative purposes, but these tools will be among the first for service users and their supporters.
Interest in EBP has grown with the belief that a great deal is known about effective mental health treatment and that all people have a right to access proven interventions. The core set of behavioral health practices that currently have strong evidentiary support include: illness management and recovery, family psychoeducation, supported employment, integrated dual diagnosis treatment, assertive community treatment, and collaborative psychopharmacology. At the same time, once introduced into existing systems, new programs struggle to maintain the principles and practices that are essential to EBP efficacy. Moreover, current EBPs were developed in the "pre-recovery era," and may not adequately emphasize the outcomes that matter most to people with mental illnesses and their families.
Working with EBP experts, people with psychiatric disabilities, and their families, a series of tools are being designed to educate service users about EBPs, orient them to the 6 core interventions currently accepted as EBPs in behavioral health, and help them to assess the quality of mental health services they receive. Special emphasis will be placed on recovery-oriented standards, and tools will be offered in both paper and web-based formats.
