The Promoting Recovery Core of the Center undertakes research to support the efforts of public mental health systems in responding to the needs of persons with severe mental disorders (PSMD) whose situations are particularly complex. Five such groups are explicitly or implicitly identified in the revision: (a) trauma survivors; (b) individuals with substance abuse problems; (c) individuals who are infected with HIV; (c) families caring for adults with severe mental disorders, and (d) women with severe mental disorders who are parents.
Specific aims are: (1) to identify and describe subpopulations whose needs are inadequately met by existing service systems; (2) to study the effectiveness of innovative service interventions that have been developed to meet their needs; and (3) to explicate, with designated groups of stakeholders, the meaning of recovery as a treatment paradigm and study the impact of incorporating recovery into existing service models. The directors of the Promoting Recovery Core are Mary Jane Alexander, Ph.D., of NKI, and Mary de Masi, Ph.D., of NYSOMH. Nine projects comprise the revised version of the Promoting Recovery Core. Four projects described in the initial application have been dropped, and two appear to have been added, although only one of these, a study of adherence to treatment for HIV/AIDS among PSMD, is mentioned in the introduction to the revision. The projects are laid out to address the Core?s general and specific aims. Three focus on trauma survivors. These set out to: (a) examine the relationship between exposure to trauma and the development of PTSD in persons with mental illness, (b) estimate the significance of untreated trauma in the public cost of caring for this mentally ill persons, and (c) carry out a process evaluation of safe houses, an innovative program of support. The needs of dually diagnosed persons are addressed in one project, a pilot study of innovative residential programming for homeless PSMD with substance abuse disorders. One project describes a descriptive and intervention pilot study aimed at facilitating adherence to treatment for HIV/AIDS. Another is concerned with family support and home-care. Elaboration of the meaning of recovery and related constructs, and the development of practice standards for recovery-oriented service models define the goals of the three remaining projects.
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