The Health Access and Recovery Peer Program



Status:Completed
Conditions:Arthritis, Asthma, High Blood Pressure (Hypertension), High Cholesterol, Peripheral Vascular Disease, Cardiology, HIV / AIDS, Hepatitis
Therapuetic Areas:Cardiology / Vascular Diseases, Immunology / Infectious Diseases, Pulmonary / Respiratory Diseases, Rheumatology
Healthy:No
Age Range:18 - Any
Updated:7/14/2017
Start Date:June 2011
End Date:March 31, 2017

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A Peer-Led, Medical Disease Self-Management Program for Mental Health Consumers

Persons with serious mental illnesses (SMI) face elevated rates of medical comorbidity, and
also challenges in effectively managing these health problems. There is an urgent need to
develop self-management strategies that allow persons with SMI to more effectively manage
their chronic medical illnesses.

In general populations, peer-led disease self-management interventions have been demonstrated
to be feasible, effective, scalable, and to lead to sustainable improvements in
self-management and health outcomes. With funding from an R34 intervention development grant
from NIMH, the study team has developed and piloted a modified version of the most widely
tested and used peer-led self management program, the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program
(CDSMP), for persons with serious mental illness. Two pilot tests of this intervention, the
Health and Recovery Peer (HARP) program, demonstrated that the program can be implemented
with high engagement, retention, and program fidelity, and can result in effect sizes across
a range of outcomes comparable to or greater than those seen in general medical populations.

This application proposes to conduct a fully-powered, multisite trial of the HARP program. A
total of 400 individuals with serious mental illnesses and one or more chronic medical
condition will be recruited from three diverse community mental health clinics in the Atlanta
metro region and randomized to the HARP program or usual care. For individuals in the HARP
program, two peer educators with SMI and one or more chronic medical condition will lead a
six-session, six-week manualized intervention, which helps participants become more effective
managers of their chronic illnesses. Follow-up interviews and chart reviews at 3 months, 6
months and one year will assess changes in clinical outcomes, improvement in generic and
disease-specific measures of illness self-management, and quality of care. During the final
phase of the study, a dissemination strategy building on the CDSMP training infrastructure
will allow program participants to lead HARP groups.

If successful, this study will establish the first fully peer-led, evidence-based
intervention for improving physical self-management in this vulnerable population.


Inclusion Criteria:

- On CMHC roster of active patients.

- Presence of a serious mental illness (schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar
disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or post-traumatic stress
disorder

- Chronic Medical Condition as noted in the CMHC chart or via self-report:
(hypertension; arthritis; heart disease; diabetes; and asthma/COPD),

Exclusion Criteria:

- cognitive impairment based on a score of > 3 on a 6-item, validated screener developed
for clinical research
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