Efficacy of an Occupational Time Use Intervention for People With Serious Mental Illness

Efficacy of an Occupational Time Use Intervention

The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of a new Occupational Time Use Intervention designed to increase activity participation and improve meaning in the lives of people with serious mental illness living in the community.

5 Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) Teams from Kingston (n=2), Belleville (n=1), and Ottawa (n=2) will be involved in a 12 week randomized controlled trial of our Time Use Intervention. 20 subjects (4 subjects from each team) will participate in this pilot study and will be treated individually by their ACT team Occupational Therapist (1 OT per ACT Team). This pilot test will help to determine the clinical utility and efficacy of our treatment protocol.

Comparison: Standard ACT treatment with the Occupational Time Use Intervention vs. Standard ACT treatment

Inclusion Criteria:

• Adults (18-65 years of age);
• Primary diagnosis of a severe psychiatric disorder with a psychotic feature;
• Team and self-perceived occupational disengagement (low activity levels);
• Fluent in English;
• Living in a community setting and receiving ACT treatment;
• Own legal guardian (thus competent to give consent to participate), and are willing to give written informed consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Unstable mental health;
• Lack of interest in a time use intervention;
• Satisfied with current time use and occupations;
• ACT Team Occupational Therapist is subject's main Case Manager.