Emily Kline1,2, Nimita Iyer2, Margaret Guyer3, Matcheri Keshavan1,2; 1Harvard Medical School, 2Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 3Massachusetts Department of Mental Health
There is accumulating evidence that coordinated specialty care for first episode psychosis (FEP) prevents disability, relapse hospitalization, suicide, and medical and substance use comorbidity, but implementation remains uneven. Federal agencies have rapidly increased funding for early intervention in FEP in the United States, leading to a proliferation of specialized FEP programs. To address workforce development and staff training needs in these programs, Massachusetts created a FEP Technical Assistance Center, now called the Massachusetts Psychosis Network for Early Treatment (MAPNET). The purpose of this study was to assess self-reported competencies and training needs amongst FEP providers across five clinical programs prior to participation in MAPNET activities. Respondents (N = 38) were asked to rank their skill as an individual and as a program in providing a number of evidence based and promising practices for FEP on a scale of 1 to 5 (5 representing high confidence). As individuals, providers identified their understanding of the rationale for FEP specialty care, ability to provide accurate diagnoses, and provision of individual psychotherapy as areas of strength. Areas of relative need (that is, low skill) included supported education/employment, peer counseling, and cognitive enhancement therapy. Program-level areas of strength and training needs mirrored individual-level results; however, there was substantial variation in inter-rater agreement with regard to identifying team strengths and weaknesses. Some programs demonstrated relative cohesion in their program-level assessments while others had poor agreement. The results of this survey were used to create a curriculum of learning activities that addressed clinician-identified training needs.
