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Abstract
This study assesses the impact of Assertive Community Based Treatment on individuals with schizophrenia and potential methods of increasing their participation in treatment. Schizophrenia is a lifelong illness that can cause significant impairments in someone’s daily life. This disorder comes with many severe symptoms that make it difficult to engage in any type of services that would potentially improve these symptoms. ACT has attempted to bridge the gap for these clients and make the services they need accessible. There are many other aspects of this treatment model that have shown a positive impact on individuals with schizophrenia. Though, it is not without its limitations. Participants were sought out to give their opinion on how to address some of these limitations.
This study was qualitative and utilized thematic analysis. It gathered the experiences of several practitioners in the field directly using this model with this specific population. The goal of this study was to identify in ACT was making an impact on the quality of life of schizophrenic individuals and what aspects may be most impactful. It is also addressing limitations and how to mitigate some of the issues being experienced by practitioners in regard to utilization of this model.
Literature was reviewed that related to the ACT model, quality of life of this population and commonly experienced limitations in the model and the research itself. All key terms were identified and explained prior to discussion of findings. The impact of this model and its potential was reviewed. Through this review, several core questions were identified to continue to exploration of the topic.
Six mental health professionals were recruited from San Diego County, Southern California. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded, and transcribed. Interviews that were conducted focused on the core questions identified throughout the literature review. These questions encapsulated quality of life, impact of ACT versus other psychotherapy, barriers to treatment, barriers to ACT service utilization and potential areas to explore for improvement. Emergent themes were then recognized from the original themes and charted in a table and discussed throughout Chapter 4 and 5. Experiential meaning units were taken from the interview transcripts that were interpreted as extremely impactful statements and appear in the results section, Chapter 4, of this project. They were also placed on a table. The majority of participants agreed that ACT makes a positive impact on quality of life for individuals with schizophrenia. The majority also concurred that change must begin at the program level in terms of implementation of ACT and adhering to fidelity.
