Cognitive Enhancement Therapy: Moving Research into Community Mental Health Settings
Poster B18, Tuesday, October%209, 11:30%20am%20-%201:00%20pm, Essex%20Ballroom
Bryn Oldham1, Meghan Begue2, Maralee Litschge3, Shaun Eack3, Mark Munetz1; 1Northeast Ohio Medical University, 2Coleman Professional Services, 3University of Pittsburgh
This presentation will highlight the successful implementation of Cognitive Enhancement Therapy (CET) in community mental health treatment settings. CET is a recovery-phase intervention for remediating neurocognitive and social-cognitive deficits in schizophrenia. Hogarty and colleagues at the University of Pittsburgh developed CET and conducted the first study in 2004 with 121 participants diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder, which provided evidence that the intervention could improve cognitive and functional outcomes in this population. Multiple research studies have replicated these findings, but implementation in community mental health centers has been limited. In 2015, The Best Practices in Schizophrenia Treatment (BeST) Center at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED) began a collaboration with researchers from the University of Pittsburgh to implement CET as a best practice in the community. The BeST Center’s mission is to promote recovery and improve the lives of as many people with schizophrenia as possible by accelerating the adoption of evidenced-based and promising practices. To achieve its mission, the BeST Center offers training, consultation, and technical assistance to build the capacity of local systems to provide state-of-the-art-care. Using a “train-the-trainer” model, University of Pittsburgh researchers trained and provided technical assistance to a BeST Center consultant and trainer while she provided CET treatment and trained clinicians in vivo at two rural mental health agencies. Attendees will hear the initial implementation strategies and the iterative process used to implement CET in community mental health agencies. Preliminary findings, barriers, keys to successful translation implementation, and future directions will be discussed.
Topic Area: Neurocognition