Promoting epistemic justice: Supporting inclusion and belonging for disabled individuals in health professions.

Background: The underrepresentation of students and professionals with disabilities in health professions is well-documented in research, emphasizing the urgent need for greater inclusivity. Institutional structures often restrict disabled individuals from sharing their specialized knowledge on navigating disability, perpetuating epistemic injustice. Research emphasizes the importance of amplifying their voices to address inequities and restore epistemic justice.

Exploring the Connection between Social Housing and Employment: A Scoping Review.

Adequate housing is a social determinant of health and well-being, providing stability from which people can engage in important life activities, including self-care and productivity. Social housing is a system-level intervention that aims to provide affordable housing to people vulnerable to experiencing social and economic marginalisation. Given the importance of employment to social-economic status and overall health and well-being, we sought to better understand the available knowledge and research related to employment and living in a social housing environment.

Evaluating the feasibility and potential impacts of a recovery-oriented psychosocial rehabilitation toolkit in a health care setting in Kenya: A mixed-methods study.

Objectives: This pilot study evaluated the feasibility and potential impacts of delivering the Psychosocial Rehabilitation (PSR) Toolkit for people with serious mental illness within a health care setting in Kenya.

Method: This study used a convergent mixed-methods design. Participants were people with serious mental illness (n = 23), each with an accompanying family member, who were outpatients of a hospital or satellite clinic in semirural Kenya.

Closing the Gap: From Research to Practice in Mental Health Interventions.

Evidence-based practice is critical but challenging in mental health. Rigorous research-proven interventions often do not yield expected results in the clinical practice. This study aimed to explore factors contributing to the effectiveness of Occupational Connections (OC)-an intervention for promotion of engagement in meaningful occupations in serious mental illness (SMI)-based on case series study of three quasi-experimental studies.

Negotiating legitimacy and belonging: Disabled students' and practitioners' experience.

Introduction: People with disabilities are underrepresented in health professions education and practice. Barriers for inclusion include stigma, disabling discourses, discriminatory programme design and oppressive interactions. Current understandings of this topic remain descriptive and fragmented.

Social support experiences of students and clinicians with disabilities in health professions.

Social support is vital in promoting the health, well-being, and performance of students and clinicians in health professions. Health settings' demanding and competitive nature imposes unique challenges on students and clinicians with disabilities. This paper aims to explore the trajectories and experiences of social support interactions amongst students and clinicians with disabilities in health professions.

Activity and participation experiences of people with disabilities in Ethiopia.

Background: Ethiopia, as a State Party to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), has committed to upholding the rights of people with disabilities in Ethiopia. There is little evidence, however, reflecting the impact of this commitment on the lived experiences of people with disabilities in Ethiopia.

Objectives: This study sought to uncover how the experiences of participation and activity shape the enactment of rights for Ethiopians with disabilities as enshrined in the UNCRPD.

Occupational intervention in mental health hospitals: Study of contextual impact.

Background: Recovery-promoting and occupation-oriented interventions for people with schizophrenia who receive in-patient services are scarcely investigated, limiting our understanding of the factors affecting intervention effectiveness and hindering occupational inclusion.

Aims: To investigate the impact of contextual factors on the effectiveness of 'Occupational Connections' (OC) - occupational intervention for in-patient psychiatric settings.

Materials And Methods: Quasi-experimental, single-blind study compared between inpatients with schizophrenia participating in OC ( = 14) and those receiving treatment as usual only ( = 16) on primary outcomes of participation dimensions and recovery-orientation of the service, and on secondary outcomes of cognition, symptom severity, and functional capacity.

Implementation of strengths model case management in seven mental health agencies in Canada: Direct-service practitioners' implementation experience.

Rationale: Implementation of strengths model case management is increasing internationally. However, few studies have focused on its implementation process, and none have specifically addressed the implementation experience of direct-service practitioners.

Objective: This paper presents factors that facilitate and impede the successful implementation of the strengths model, with a specific focus on practitioners who deliver the intervention directly to service recipients.

Association between fidelity to the strengths model of case management and client outcomes: A quasi-experimental study.

Objective: Evidence concerning strengths model of case management (SMCM) remains mixed. This study aimed to test the hypotheses that higher fidelity to SMCM is associated with improved quality of life (QoL), hope, community participation, community functioning, more days of competitive employment and of independent living, and fewer days of hospitalization.

Methods: SMCM was implemented over a 3-year period, at seven sites in the Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador, Québec, and Ontario.

The Working Alliance as a Mediator Between Fidelity to Strengths Model Case Management and Client Outcomes.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine how the client–case manager working alliance in strengths model case management (SMCM) mediates the relationship between fidelity to the SMCM intervention and clients’ quality of life, hope, and community functioning.

Methods: In total, 311 people with severe mental illness, served at seven community mental health agencies in Canada, participated in the study. They were new to SMCM and participated in five structured interviews every 4.

Implementing the Strengths Model of Case Management: Assessing Practice Three Years After Initial Implementation.

While strengths approaches are important to recovery-oriented practice, implementation can be challenging. This study implemented the strengths model of case management (SMCM) in 11 CM teams and assessed the fidelity of delivery and staff perceptions of the model after 36 months using the SMCM fidelity scale and the Readiness Monitoring Tool. Paired sample t-tests assessed change in fidelity from baseline to 36 months.

Heeding the Call of an Innovative Paradigm for Mental Health Interventions in Low- and Middle-income Countries.

The provision of mental health care for people living in low- and middle-income countries presents a particularly complex problem because of fractured service availability and provision, widespread stigma associated with mental illness, and the economic burden inherent in conventional mental health service delivery. People with serious mental illness in these settings are among the most marginalized in their societies and are at risk of becoming increasingly powerless in the face of top-down, service-oriented systems. Innovative intersectoral approaches that are based on asset development and entrepreneurism and that embrace the power of peer-driven networks hold promise to effect transformative and meaningful change.

Validation of the Patient Generated Index for people with severe mental illness.

Objective: The Patient Generated Index (PGI) is a personalized quality of life (QOL) measure. This secondary analysis examined its psychometric properties with people with severe mental illness.

Methods: Three hundred and eleven people with severe mental illness participated in structured interviews at baseline, 9 months, and 18 months.

Clinical research associates experience with missing patient reported outcomes data in cancer randomized controlled trials.

Background: Missing patient reported outcomes data threaten the validity of PRO-specific findings and conclusions from randomized controlled trials by introducing bias due to data missing not at random. Clinical Research Associates are a largely unexplored source for informing understanding of potential causes of missing PRO data. The purpose of this qualitative research was to describe factors that influence missing PRO data, as revealed through the lived experience of CRAs.

The Mediating Effects of Protective Behavioral Strategies on the Relationship between Addiction-Prone Personality Traits and Alcohol-Related Problems among Emerging Adults.

Alcohol consumption and associated harms are an issue among emerging adults, and protective behavioral strategies (PBS) are actions with potential to minimize these harms. We conducted two studies aimed at determining whether the associations of at-risk personality traits (sensation-seeking [SS], impulsivity [IMP], hopelessness [HOP], and anxiety-sensitivity [AS]) with increased problematic alcohol use could be explained through these variables' associations with decreased PBS use. We tested two mediation models in which the relationship between at-risk personality traits and increased problematic alcohol use outcomes (Study 1: Alcohol volume; Study 2: Heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related harms) was partially mediated through decreased PBS use.

"I Can Understand Where They're Coming From": How Clinicians' Disability Experiences Shape Their Interaction With Clients.

Students and clinicians with disabilities are underrepresented in the academic health programs and professional clinical settings. Disability studies foregrounds the unique ways of knowing and being that clinicians with disabilities can offer. Based on a larger grounded theory study of the experiences of students and clinicians with disabilities, this article examines the role that clinicians' abilities to draw on their personal experiences of living with a disability have on their interactions with clients.

Beyond Employment: A Broader Vision Linking Activity and Participation to Health, Well-Being, and Recovery.

Employment is a well-recognized and important indicator of recovery from mental illness. However, a broad range of personally and socially meaningful activity and participation opportunities, beyond paid employment, can be valuable for those in recovery. Facilitating access to these opportunities necessitates pivoting practice toward a broader understanding of activity and participation experiences associated with recovery, health, and well-being and further developing evidence-informed practices.

Occupation-focused intervention for in-patient mental health settings: Pilot study of effectiveness.

Purpose: Participation in meaningful occupation is associated with recovery in serious mental illnesses, however, few evidence-based, occupation-focused interventions for hospital settings exist. This study investigated the effectiveness of "Occupational Connections" (OC), a manualized, short-term, group intervention, addressing issues in daily-life occupations' participation and functioning of people with serious mental illness as early as during hospitalization.

Methods: Thirty-three inpatients with schizophrenia completed single-blind, pre-post study procedures (up to 10 weeks) in two groups: OC group intervention and open leisure activity group (control condition), in addition to treatment as usual.

Disabled healthcare professionals' diverse, embodied, and socially embedded experiences.

Disabled people are underrepresented within healthcare professions, although their participation has potential benefits for them personally, and for broader society. Disabled peoples' participation in healthcare professions is limited by assumptions about disability. Little research explores how healthcare professions can be organized to support disabled peoples' employment.

Workplace Antistigma Programs at the Mental Health Commission of Canada: Part 1. Processes and Projects.

The Opening Minds Initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada has taken a novel approach to reducing the stigma of mental illness by targeting specific sectors. This first article describes Opening Minds' research and programming initiatives in the workplace target group. This article describes the context of mental illness stigma in Canada and the development of the Opening Minds initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, with a specific focus on the workplace sector.

Insights into cognitive work hardening for return-to-work following depression: Qualitative findings from an intervention study.

Background: Workplace mental health disability claims are rising with concomitant challenges to return-to-work (RTW) success. Cognitive work hardening (CWH) addresses work re-entry issues including fatigue, coping skills, and reduced cognitive abilities which are relevant for people returning to work following an episode of depression.

Objective: To gain insight into underlying factors contributing to CWH's effectiveness in RTW preparation following depression.

Workplace Antistigma Programs at the Mental Health Commission of Canada: Part 2. Lessons Learned.

The Opening Minds Initiative of the Mental Health Commission of Canada has worked with many workplaces to implement and evaluate mental illness stigma reduction programs. This article describes the lessons learned from Opening Minds' research and programming initiatives in the workplace target group and details some of the most valuable learnings from collaborating with workplace partners. These insights range from issues such as the recruitment of potential partners to the implementation of evaluation in the workplace.