Readiness Enhancement Management Strategies (REMS): a proof of concept and evaluation feasibility study of staff training to improve service engagement by people with personality difficulties

Understanding Engagement With Forensic Smartphone Apps: The Service Design Engagement Model

Justice services have begun to integrate the use of mobile applications into treatment, support, and rehabilitative programs for forensic clients. One such application that been adopted to support forensic clients is "eRecovery": a smartphone application that provides clients recovering from a substance addiction with support for managing relapse. In this article, we report on evaluation findings from a trial of eRecovery in an Australian Community Justice Centre, and reflect on several issues relating to fostering and sustaining client engagement with similar applications within forensic and justice settings. We propose the Service Design Engagement Model to organize, visualize, and describe the stages and factors important to adoption, appropriation, and on-going routine use of the software by forensic clients. The model recognizes the role of contextual and environmental factors in supporting users through the early stages of engagement, and the importance of user agency in longer-term engagement with therapeutic apps.

The Impact of a Web-Based Course Concerning Patient Education for Mental Health Care Professionals: Quasi-Experimental Study

BACKGROUND

Continuing education has an important role in supporting the competence of health care professionals. Although Web-based education is a growing business in various health sectors, few studies have been conducted in psychiatric settings to show its suitability in demanding work environments.

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to describe the impact of a Web-based educational course to increase self-efficacy, self-esteem, and team climate of health care professionals. Possible advantages and disadvantages of the Web-based course are also described.

METHODS

The study used nonrandomized, pre-post intervention design in 1 psychiatric hospital (3 wards). Health care professionals (n=33) were recruited. Self-efficacy, self-esteem, and team climate were measured at 3 assessment points (baseline, 8 weeks, and 6 months). Possible advantages and disadvantages were gathered with open-ended questions at the end of the course.

RESULTS

Our results of this nonrandomized, pre-post intervention study showed that health care professionals (n=33) had higher self-efficacy after the course, and the difference was statistically significant (mean 30.16, SD 3.31 vs mean 31.77, SD 3.35; P=.02). On the other hand, no differences were found in the self-esteem or team climate of the health care professionals before and after the course. Health care professionals found the Web-based course useful in supporting their work and relationships with patients. The tight schedule of the Web-based course and challenges in recruiting patients to use the patient education program with health care professionals were found to be the disadvantages.

CONCLUSIONS

Web-based education might be a useful tool to improve the self-efficacy of health care professionals even in demanding work environments such as psychiatric hospitals. However, more studies with robust and sufficiently powered data are still needed.