The Cultural Formulation Interview-Engagement Aid

Overview

This study consists of two projects: Project 1: The study team will create and refine the CFI-EA by enrolling 3 clinicians and 9-12 patients to test the CFI-EA's feasibility and acceptability from patient and clinician feedback in a pre-pilot trial. The study team will first train clinicians in the CFI-EA by reading over the CFI-EA treatment manual and practicing how they can use it in behavioral simulations, and then check whether participants think they can do it (feasibility) and like it (acceptability) through standard measures. Following this the study team will revise the CFI-EA based on their feedback for the comparative open trial in Phase 2. Project 2: The study team will test the revised CFI-EA against treatment as usual in a pilot trial. 3 clinicians and 12-15 patients will be enrolled in each arm. As before, the study team will first train clinicians in the revised CFI-EA by reading over the CFI-EA treatment manual and practicing how they can use it in behavioral simulations. Then, the study team will check whether participants think they can do it (feasibility) and like it (acceptability) through standard measures, and in addition will also explore any initial effects on communication behaviors among patients and clinicians and treatment engagement based on treatment retention. The specific aims are: For Project 1: 1. To pretest the CFI-EA intervention in a mental health setting through a pre-pilot open trial that explores communication mechanisms of action in terms of communication behavior and cultural content, and 2. To revise the CFI-EA intervention based on patient and clinician feedback on its feasibility and acceptability. As real-world community stakeholders for whom the CFI-EA is being developed, patients and clinicians can provide helpful perspectives on how the CFI-EA can help clinicians tailor treatment plans around patient cultural views and treatment preferences to keep patients in care. The CFI-EA will be revised around areas of maximal agreement among patients and clinicians with the help of health disparities and communication experts. For Project 2: 1. To test the revised CFI-EA's feasibility and acceptability among patients and clinicians in a pilot open trial against treatment as usual, and 2. To explore the relationship between the revised CFI-EA's effects on patient-clinician communication and treatment engagement. The study team hypothesize that clinicians using the revised CFI-EA will show more positive communication behaviors compared to clinicians delivering treatment as usual and that CFI-EA patients will stay in treatment longer. Communication behaviors will be assessed through communication analysis techniques such as the Roter Interaction Analysis System.

Members of underserved racial/ethnic minority groups who participate more actively in the treatment process have almost three times the odds of staying in treatment and following up with appointments compared to standard treatment. Improving patient-clinician communication may therefore improve treatment engagement, from starting and participating in treatment actively to maintaining treatment for the successful resolution of symptoms and improvements in quality of life. Interventions that enhance communication behaviors by asking patients about their cultural views, using open-ended questions, establishing rapport, and using patient terms can increase patient participation and satisfaction. Interventions that expose clinicians to cultural content by asking patients about preferences for treatment, barriers to accessing services, the role of support from family or friends, and that encourage information exchange also improve treatment engagement. The goal of this study is to develop a communication intervention that improves treatment engagement for members of underserved racial and ethnic minority groups by improving clinician communication behaviors and exposing them to patient cultural content. Here, culture is understood as a dynamic process of meaning making between the patient and clinician. This intervention is not designed for patients belonging to a specific racial or ethnic group, but to improve general communication between patients and clinicians. The intervention improves communication by making communication behaviors and cultural content topics of explicit conversation rather than allowing clinicians to make cultural assumptions and take them for granted. We are focusing on racial and ethnic minorities because of significant evidence documenting disparities in health communication and care. In session 1, the clinician does the full CFI in DSM-5 (\~15 minutes) and then completes the full standard intake with information not already obtained through the CFI (\~35 minutes). In sessions 2 and 3, the clinician integrates the CFI-EA (\~5 minutes) within regular care in standard appointments. At JHMC, Session 2 lasts 60 minutes and is for treatment initiation. Session 3 lasts 20-30 minutes and is to check for treatment continuation. Because this is a grant to train in developing mental health interventions, the study team is following an NIMH model known as the Stage Model of Intervention Development. The first project is creating the intervention through patient and clinician feedback at JHMC and expert consensus with the K23 mentoring team. The second project is testing the intervention in a trial that compares the CFI-EA to treatment as usual. Patients for Project 1 will be recruited through a sample of convenience among patients accessing care on the days the research assistant is in the waiting area. For project 2, patients will be sampled consecutively by the JHMC's intake coordinator from the time that the project starts until the target enrollment is reached. The intake coordinator will keep a record of all patients who agree and do not agree to enroll in the study. Patients who agree to be enrolled during Project 2 will be recruited by the research assistant in the waiting area and then assigned randomly to either CFI-EA clinicians or treatment-as-usual clinicians based on a random number generator. The study team is using the same study measures in both projects to examine whether revisions to the CFI-EA conducted at the end of Project 1 show improvements in outcomes after Project 2.