Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) And Employment, Essay Example

Abstract

This paper is a review of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Employment. This paper examines examine two articles concerning Assertive Community Treatment and employment entitled “Randomized Trial of Supported Employment Integrated with Assertive Community Treatment for Rural Adults with Severe Mental Illness” and “A Case Illustration of Strategies to Improve Employment Outcomes among Individuals Receiving ACT Services”.

A Review of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) and Employment

Assertive Community treatment is an evidence-based practice that provides a 24/7 service to the severely mentally ill individuals. It is also an outreach program that offers in vivo services to their consumers. This paper will examine two articles concerning Assertive Community Treatment and employment- “Randomized Trial of Supported Employment Integrated with Assertive Community Treatment for Rural Adults with Severe Mental Illness” and “A Case Illustration of Strategies to Improve Employment Outcomes among Individuals Receiving ACT Services”.

The article “Randomized Trial of Supported Employment Integrated with Assertive Community Treatment for Rural Adults with Severe Mental Illness” was written by Paul B. Gold, Neil Meisler, Alberto B. Santos, Mark A. Carnemolla, Olivia H. Williams, and Jennie Keleher and published in 2005. The authors hypothesized that Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) combined with Individual Placement and Support (IPS) is more effective than the golden standard in providing employment support to individuals with mental illness. In doing so, competitive work outcomes were analyzed compared to the control group in which members had no mental illnesses. The study occurred in rural South Carolina, indicating that the results may be applicable to individuals living in more rural parts of New Jersey.

The total sample size for participants in this study was 177 individuals that were randomly assigned to groups with different intervention programs. The number of participants was enough to make a conclusion since the general population in which the subjects was taken from is small to begin with. However, attrition was low because many of the participants needed to relocate during the duration of the study. The method of the study focused on comparison of ACT-IPS and the golden standard over a 24-month period. The results indicated that more individuals in the ACT-IPS program were able to continually hold their jobs compared to individuals placed in other programs. In future studies, it will be beneficial to determine how these individuals could be more effectively provided with an understanding of technology and applicable work skills. This research is relevant to the field of psychology because it will allow professionals to have a greater understanding of the skills they can help people gain to become reliable members of the workforce, in spite of the mental challenges and social difficulties they experience.

The second article “A Case Illustration of Strategies to Improve Employment Outcomes among Individuals Receiving ACT Services” was written by Ni Gao and Joni N. Dolce, and published in 2010. The authors hypothesized that the implementation of the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program would help improve consumer employment rates in the state of New Jersey within a 12-month period. The study focused on the assessment of this program to determine whether or not it would be reasonable to continue implementing similar programs to help mental health patients find stable employment. Because the study took place at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, the results are reflective of the needs of mental health patients in the state of New Jersey.

This study was conducted by first determining baseline measurements to understand how many members of this study population were employed. This value was compared to the level of employment that was observed after the implementation of the ACT program. It was found that employment rates increased from 5% to 24% in a 12-month period. Because the ACT program intervention was found to be successful, the authors proposed that it be used in additional applications to improve the rate of employment among populations with mental health needs. The authors also believe that it is valuable to examine other methods that could contribute to an increase in the employment rate for these individuals. It is valuable to incorporate ACT into practice because doing so will increase the likelihood that individual cases will be acted upon and engage themselves in long-lasting employment positions.

References

Gao, N., & Dolce, J. N. (2010). A Case Illustration of Strategies to Improve Employment Outcomes Among Individuals Receiving ACT Services. American Journal of Psychiatric Rehabilitation. doi:10.1080/15487761003756944

Gold, P. B., Meisler, N., Santos, A. B., Carnemolla, M. A., & Williams, O. H. (2005). Randomized Trial of Supported Employment Integrated With Assertive Community Treatment for Rural Adults With Severe Mental Illness. Schizophrenia Bulletin. doi:10.1093/schbul/sbi056