The study examines the possible effect of a community campaign to decrease the duration of untreated psychosis in persons with their first episode of a psychotic disorder.
The study examines whether a community campaign can reduce over time the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) among persons with first episode psychosis (FEP). The DUP of mental health patients with FEP who sought services at a public outpatient or an inpatient facility was assessed for a 15 month period prior to the campaign launch. This serves as the baseline or historical control. The DUP will continue to be assessed for another 3 years. The hypothesis being tested is that there will be a significant decrease in DUP between baseline, one-year, two-year and three-year follow-ups. This study is being carried out with Latinos in Los Angeles County because as a group, particularly among Spanish-speaking immigrants, Latinos are at high risk for prolonged DUP.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
137
A community campaign to teach community residents and professional networks the signs and symptoms of psychosis using social media, community talks, and advertising.
San Fernando Mental Health Center
Granada Hills, California, United States
Latency to Treatment (LTT) a novel interview based assessment tool to measure the Duration of Untreated Psychosis
The time from the onset of psychosis to the time the subject receives appropriate mental health treatment. The metric is number of weeks that the person went without treatment from illness onset. The number of weeks is the variable of interest that will be aggregated.
Time frame: At the time of recruitment into the study
Psychosis literacy, a questionnaire based inquiry for which the respondents answer either open-ended questions (e.g., What is serious mental Illness?) or "Yes-no" questions ("e.g., Can you recognize a serious mental illness in others?)
The responses to the interview are either written down or audio-recorded. Raters then listen or read the responses and code them. The responses are aggregated as frequencies (e.g., the number of symptoms identified) or as percentages (e.g., the proportion of respondents who reported that they can recognize a serious mental illness in others).
Time frame: At the time of recruitment in to study
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