Facilitating treatment engagement for early psychosis through peer-delivered decision support: intervention development and protocol for pilot evaluation

Abstract Background Emerging adults with early psychosis demonstrate high rates of service disengagement from critical early intervention services. Decision support interventions and peer support have both been shown to enhance service engagement but are understudied in this population. The purposes of this article are to describe the development of a novel peer-delivered decision coaching intervention for this population and to report plans for a pilot study designed to gather preliminary data about its feasibility, acceptability, and potential impact. Methods The intervention was developed based on formative qualitative data and in collaboration with a diverse team of researchers, key stakeholders, and expert consultants. The pilot trial will utilize a single-group (N = 20), pre-post, convergent mixed-methods design to explore whether and how the intervention addresses decision-making needs (the primary intervention target). The impact of the intervention on secondary outcomes (e.g., engagement in the program) will also be assessed. Additionally, through observation and feedback from the peer decision coach and study participants, we will evaluate the feasibility of research and intervention procedures, and the acceptability of information and support from the peer decision coach. Discussion The peer-delivered decision coaching intervention holds promise for assisting young people with making informed and values-consistent decisions about their care, and potentially enhancing service engagement within this traditionally difficult-to-engage population. If the intervention demonstrates feasibility and acceptability, and pilot data show its potential for improving treatment decision-making, our work will also lay the foundation for a new evidence base regarding roles for peer specialists on early intervention teams. Trial registration This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04532034) on 28 August 2020 as Temple University Protocol Record 261047, Facilitating Engagement in Evidence-Based Treatment for Early Psychosis.

Download Full-text

The optimization model of the logging machinery usage in forestry practice

Acta Universitatis Agriculturae et Silviculturae Mendelianae Brunensis ◽

10.11118/actaun200957060105 ◽

2009 ◽

Vol 57 (6) ◽

pp. 105-112 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jitka Janová ◽

M. Lindnerová

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Czech Republic ◽

Decision Support ◽

Decision Support Systems ◽

Optimization Model ◽

Support Systems ◽

Decision Problems ◽

Optimization Models ◽

Ongoing Research ◽

The Impact

The decision support systems commonly used in industry and economy managerial practice for optimizing the processes are based on algoritmization of the typical decision problems. In Czech forestry business, there is a lack of developed decision support systems, which could be easily used in daily practice. This stems from the fact, that the application of optimization methods is less successful in forestry decision making than in industry or economy due to inherent complexity of the forestry decision problems. There is worldwide ongoing research on optimization models applicable in forestry decision making, but the results are not globally applicable and moreover the cost of possibly arising software tools are indispensable. Especially small and medium forestry companies in Czech Republic can not afford such additional costs, although the results of optimization could positively influence not only the business itself but also the impact of forestry business on the environment. Hence there is a need for user friendly optimization models for forestry decision making in the area of Czech Republic, which could be easily solved in commonly available software, and whose results would be both, realistic and easily applicable in the daily decision making.The aim of this paper is to develop the optimization model for the machinery use planning in Czech logging firm in such a way, that the results can be obtained using MS EXCEL. The goal is to identify the integer number of particular machines which should be outsourced for the next period, when the total cost minimization is required. The linear programming model is designed covering the typical restrictions on available machinery and total volume of trees to be cut and transported. The model offers additional result in the form of optimal employment of particular machines. The solution procedure is described in detail and the results obtained are discussed with respect to its applicability in practical forestry decision making. The possibility of extension of suggested model by including additional requirements is mentioned and the example for the wood manipulation requirement is shown.

Download Full-text

How Groupware Systems Can Change How an Organisation Makes Decisions

Encyclopedia of Decision Making and Decision Support Technologies ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-843-7.ch049 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 426-433

Author(s):

Frédéric Adam ◽

Jean-Charles Pomerol ◽

Patrick Brézillon

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Decision Support ◽

Decision Support Systems ◽

Study Protocol ◽

Support Systems ◽

Decision Making Processes ◽

The Impact

In this article, a newspaper company which has implemented a computerised editorial system is studied in an attempt to understand the impact that groupware systems can have on the decision making processes of an organisation. First, the case study protocol is presented, and the findings of the case are described in detail. Conclusions are then presented which pertain both to this case and to the implementation of decision support systems that have a groupware dimension.

Download Full-text

The Decision Hedgehog

Encyclopedia of Decision Making and Decision Support Technologies ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-843-7.ch017 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 148-154

Author(s):

Patrick Humphreys

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Decision Support ◽

Decision Support Systems ◽

Group Decision ◽

Support Systems ◽

Group Decision Support ◽

Group Decision Support Systems ◽

Decision Systems ◽

Perceived Need ◽

The Impact

The discourses established as the foundations of group decision support systems (GDSS) have been called into question not only in the interests of advancing the academic GDSS field (Bannon, 1997), but also out of the perceived need to plug gaps that sophisticated GDSS systems throw up in practice (Huber, 1981; Humphreys & Brezillon, 2002; Humphreys & Jones, 2006; Stabell, 1987). The limitations of rational perspectives of “decision- making as choice” have been raised (Carlsson, 2002; Cyert & March, 1992; Nappelbaum, 1997). The challenges relate to failures of implementation, the rise of unintended outcomes, the impact of cultures of fear and failure within organisations (Humphreys & Nappelbaum, 1997), and problems associated with externalisation of decision systems designers who “play God” by designing from outside the game for those who are inside (Humphreys, 1989).

Download Full-text

Communication and Decision Support Systems

International Journal of Safety and Security Engineering ◽

10.18280/ijsse.110413 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 397-407

Author(s):

Luigi Palestini

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Decision Support ◽

Decision Support Systems ◽

Communication Systems ◽

New Technologies ◽

Support Systems ◽

Just In Time ◽

Strategic Decisions ◽

Voice Data ◽

The Impact

In emergencies, assessment and communication activities are particularly important for the support of the top decision-making bodies, to evaluate “just in time” the best actions to be taken. The multiple problems to be solved require specific skills in different areas. Upon the occurrence of a calamity, the authorities must answer questions such as “is a given place safe from the threat (e.g., an oncoming flood)?”, that’s why today knowledge of tools that can support decision-making is increasingly necessary: the so-called Decision Support Systems (DSS), software that allow users to improve situation assessment, helping all those who must make strategic decisions. Hand in hand with the growing interest in DSS there is an increasing use of communication systems based on IT. First responders know that to face an emergency everything must be prepared and planned, also communication. In fact, DSS and voice/data transmission systems are often integrated into a single system, as proposed by the European projects FIRE IN and IN PREP, because managing information is crucial for carrying out rescue activities in the best possible way. This work describes the impact of new technologies on rescue and emergency management in Italy and Europe, highlighting the challenges associated with their use.

Download Full-text

The Impact of Using Data Warehouse on Manpower Employment Decision Support System

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.383-390.4653 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 383-390 ◽

pp. 4653-4659

Author(s):

Amro F. Alasta ◽

Muftah A. Enaba

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Decision Support ◽

Decision Support System ◽

Data Warehouse ◽

Support System ◽

Employment Decision ◽

Use Of Data ◽

Using Data ◽

The Impact

Since the use of computers in business world, data collection has become one of the most important issues due to the available knowledge in the data; such data has been stored in database. Database system was developed which led to the evolvement of hierarchical and relational database followed by Standard Query Language (SQL). As data size increases, the need for more control and information retrieval increase. These increases lead to the development of data mining systems and data warehouses. This paper focuses on the use of data warehouse as a supporting tool in decision making. We to study the effectiveness of data warehouse techniques in the sense of time and flexibility in our case study (Manpower Employment). The study will conclude with a comparison of traditional relational database and the use of data warehouse. The fundamental role of data warehouse is to provide data for supporting decision-making process. Data in data warehouse environment is multidimensional data store. We can simply say that data warehouse is a process not a product, for assembling and managing data from various sources for the purpose of gaining a single detailed view of part or all an establishment. The data warehouse concept has changed the nature of decision support system, by adding new benefits for improving and expanding the scope, accuracy, and accessibility of data. The warehouse is the link between the application and raw data, which is scattered in separate database but now is unified. The objectives of this work are to study the impact of using data warehouse on Manpower Employment Decision Support System, in the sense as far as the data quality concern. We will focus on the benefits gained from using data warehouse, and why it is more powerful than the use of traditional databases in decision making. The case study will be the Libyan national manpower employment agency. The data warehouse will collect database scattered from different sources in Libya in order to compare the performance and time.

Download Full-text

Challenges for Decision Support in Urban Disaster Scenarios

Encyclopedia of Decision Making and Decision Support Technologies ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-843-7.ch008 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 69-75

Author(s):

Sergio F. Ochoa ◽

José A. Pino

Keyword(s):

Decision Making ◽

Decision Support ◽

Natural Disasters ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Terrorist Attacks ◽

Global Level ◽

Urban Disaster ◽

The Impact ◽

Society Today ◽

Economical Losses

An urgent challenge confronting society today is the vulnerability of urban areas to “eXtreme” Events (XEs) (Mileti, 1999; CWR, 2002; Godschalk, 2003). These hazardous situations include natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, as well as accidental and intentional disasters such as fires and terrorist attacks. At the global level, a total of 608 million people were affected by these disasters in 2002, out of which 24,500 died (IFRC, 2003). The economic damages to property and the environment were estimated at $27 billion dollars (IFRC, 2003). From January to October 2005, the number of people killed in disasters globally was estimated at 97,490 and the economical losses were approximately U.S. $159 billion (WHO, 2006). These significant human and economic costs emphasize the urgent need to reduce the vulnerability of urban areas to XEs (Mileti, 1999; CWR, 2002; Godschalk, 2003), improve the impact of relief team actions in these situations (NRC, 1999; NSTC, 2003), and the decision making process (Stewart, 2002; Mendonca, 2007).

Download Full-text

Novice's Performance and Satisfaction Improvement Through Expert Decision Support Usage

Advances in Information Resources Management - Advanced Topics in Information Resources Management, Volume 3 ◽

10.4018/978-1-59140-253-4.ch007 ◽

2004 ◽

pp. 163-182

Author(s):

Lucila Perez ◽

Michel Plaisent ◽

Prosper Bernard ◽

Lassana Maguiraga

Keyword(s):

Neural Networks ◽

Decision Making ◽

Decision Support ◽

Positive Impact ◽

Business World ◽

New Employees ◽

Training Tool ◽

Treatment Groups ◽

The Impact

Decision support technology, Expert Systems, Executives Information Systems, and Artificial Neural Networks, have been reported to be useful tools to enhance the performance of managers as they helped them to gain more knowledge, experiences, and expertise and consequently enhance the quality of the decision-making. They can also be used as a training tool to transfer the knowledge of the expert to middle and top management and thus improve the performance of new employees. This communication reports the conclusions of a study conducted to verify the impact of the use of the EDSS technology (Expert Decision Support Systems) on the performance and satisfaction of new employees in the business world. A laboratory experiment using control groups and treatment groups was held to test the research model. The results indicate that EDSS technologies do have a positive impact on the performance of the users.

Download Full-text

M104. THE USE OF SHORT MESSAGE SERVICE AS A MEANS OF CLINICAL ENGAGEMENT IN EARLY PSYCHOSIS

Schizophrenia Bulletin ◽

10.1093/schbul/sbaa030.416 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 46 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S174-S175

Author(s):

Jessica D’Arcey ◽

Aristotle Voineskos ◽

Sean Kidd ◽

Nicole Kozloff ◽

George Foussias

Keyword(s):

Medication Adherence ◽

Emerging Adults ◽

Functional Outcomes ◽

Low Cost ◽

Health Centre ◽

Early Psychosis ◽

First Episode ◽

Clinical Services ◽

Service Engagement ◽

Sms Intervention

Abstract Background Clinical disengagement of youth in early psychosis clinics continues to be a significant barrier to recovery as evidenced by high rates of treatment non-adherence (up to 60%) and clinic drop-out (30%). Disengagement from services results in longer durations of untreated/partially-treated illness, which in turn leads to higher rates of symptom burden, re-hospitalization, and poorer functional outcomes. Approaches aimed at improving engagement have typically hinged on efforts to increase access to clinicians either via telephone or in person, however financial and human resource limitations often undermine these efforts. This has caused a shift toward the use of SMS due to its low cost and popularity as 95% of youth in North America send and receive SMS messages daily. The current randomized controlled trial sought to evaluate the efficacy of a weekly SMS intervention delivered over nine months to improve engagement in early psychosis services. Methods 60 participants between the ages of 16 and 29 presenting with a first episode psychosis to an early psychosis clinic in an academic health centre were recruited for this study. Participants were randomized to either an active or sham SMS intervention arm, delivered weekly for nine months. Participants were blind to treatment allocation. The active SMS intervention consisted of weekly SMS messages with adaptive questions regarding general wellbeing, clinic attendance and medication adherence, while the sham SMS arm consisted of a weekly generic text message with no clinically relevant subject matter. Results All participants have been enrolled, with the final study visits to be completed in December 2019. Results presented will include analyses of efficacy of the active versus sham SMS intervention for improving service engagement, our primary outcome, consisting of self-reported medication adherence, clinician and client rated engagement, and attendance rates extracted from electronic medical charts. In addition, symptom and functional outcomes were assessed over the course of the nine month intervention across the active and sham intervention groups, which will also be presented. Feasibility data collected to date indicates a high degree of interest and acceptance by participants for the use of SMS as a means of engagement. Further, there have been no tolerability difficulties reported by participants to date. Discussion The high rates of disengagement from clinical services seen among youth and emerging adults with early psychosis indicate a need for effective interventions to promote engagement in treatment and support symptomatic and functional recovery for affected individuals. The results of this trial stand to offer insights into the potential efficacy of a simple weekly SMS intervention to promote engagement in clinical services for this population. The acceptability of this intervention by participants, coupled with its low cost and the popularity of SMS, suggest that this treatment approach, if effective, could be readily implemented within early psychosis services to support positive outcomes from an initial psychosis episode.

Download Full-text

Exploring the impact of peer support in early intervention in psychosis

Mental Health and Social Inclusion ◽

10.1108/mhsi-12-2016-0036 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 21 (2) ◽

pp. 102-109

Author(s):

Hannah White ◽

Laura Price ◽

Tom Barker

Keyword(s):

Early Intervention ◽

Peer Support ◽

Qualitative Methodology ◽

Service Providers ◽

Service Users ◽

Content Type ◽

Service Engagement ◽

Mental Health Settings ◽

Early Intervention In Psychosis ◽

The Impact

Purpose Peer support (PS) has, over recent years, been implemented across a variety of NHS adult mental health settings. In November 2015, peer support workers (PSW) were introduced to an Early Intervention in Psychosis Service (EIS) in the Midlands. The purpose of this paper is to focus on organisational factors, asking how do PS impact on an early intervention in psychosis multi-disciplinary team (MDT). Design/methodology/approach Six EIS MDT members participated in an hour-long focus group. The data were analysed using thematic analysis, in line with a qualitative methodology (Braun and Clarke, 2006). Findings Two themes were generated, including “The values of PS” (consisting of three sub-themes: improving service engagement; personal qualities; and the peer relationship); and “The peer support role” (consisting of three sub-themes: living experience; boundaries; and alternative perspectives). Findings imply that PS in the current EIS related to: improved service engagement and greater understanding between service providers and users; which could be linked to better outcomes for service users (such as reduced duration of untreated psychosis (DUP)). Originality/value It has been suggested that PSWs facilitate an improved understanding between service providers and service users (Repper and Watson, 2012). However, research into organisational and team benefits of PS is lacking, with a need for more exploration (Repper, 2013). The current study begins to address the lack of literature regarding the organisational impact of PS, and even further regarding early intervention.

Download Full-text