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The Work of Recovery on Two Assertive Community Treatment Teams

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Abstract

The compatibility of recovery work with the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) model has been debated; and little is known about how to best measure the work of recovery. Two ACT teams with high and low recovery orientation were identified by expert consensus and compared on a number of dimensions. Using an interpretive, qualitative approach to analyze interview and observation data, teams differed in the extent to which the environment, team structure, staff attitudes, and processes of working with consumers supported principles of recovery orientation. We present a model of recovery work and discuss implications for research and practice.

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Notes

  1. We choose the term “consumer” (of mental health services) rather than client, patient, service-user or a number of other possibilities because it is more active than some of the others, and is commonly used in our service context. We recognize, however, the acceptability of terms varies.

  2. A concurrent study was examining success and failure on ACT teams and guided this interview sample selection (Stull et al. in press).

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by an IP-RISP grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R24 MH074670; Recovery Oriented Assertive Community Treatment). We appreciate the involvement of staff and consumers who participated, and the assistance of Angela Donovan, Candice Hudson, Dawn Shimp, and Jenny Lydick in the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. VA HSR&D Center on Implementing Evidence-Based Practice, Roudebush VAMC and Regenstrief Institute, Inc, 1481 W. 10th St. (11H), Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA

    Michelle P. Salyers

  2. ACT Center of Indiana, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Michelle P. Salyers & Angela L. Rollins

  3. Department of Psychology, Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Michelle P. Salyers, Laura G. Stull & Angela L. Rollins

  4. Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research, and Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Kim Hopper

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  1. Michelle P. Salyers
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  4. Kim Hopper
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Correspondence to Michelle P. Salyers.

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Salyers, M.P., Stull, L.G., Rollins, A.L. et al. The Work of Recovery on Two Assertive Community Treatment Teams. Adm Policy Ment Health 38, 169–180 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-010-0311-2

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