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Biomedical subjects

Ruth O Ralph

Publications and source records attributed to Ruth O Ralph.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Recovery principles and evidence-based practice: essential ingredients of service improvement.

The two of the most commonly advocated service improvement proposals for adults with severe mental illnesses are to redesign services based on recovery principles and to increase the availability of services with strong research support. The two improvement strategies complement and inform each other much more than they conflict. To improve, the field needs the insights of people who have personally experienced severe mental illnesses and it needs the scientific process. Applied together, the two strategies can guide the development of an optimal service system: The kind of service system that most people would want for themselves or their family should they have the need.

Adult↗
PubMed2004

Examining the factor structure of the recovery assessment scale.

This article follows up on earlier research examining the factor structure of a measure of recovery from serious mental illness. Exactly 1,824 persons with serious mental illness who were participating in the baseline interview for a multistate study on consumer-operated services completed the Recovery Assessment Scale (RAS) plus measures representing hope, meaning of life, quality of life, symptoms, and empowerment. Results of exploratory and subsequent confirmatory factor analyses of the RAS for random halves of the sample yielded five factors: personal confidence and hope, willingness to ask for help, goal and success orientation, reliance on others, and no domination by symptoms. Subsequent regression analyses showed that these five factors were uniquely related to the additional constructs assessed in the study. We compared these findings with those of other studies to summarize the factor structure that currently emerges on recovery.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Evidence-based practices: setting the context and responding to concerns.

After nearly 20 years of progress in general medicine, the evidence-based practice movement is becoming the central theme for mental health care reform in the first decade of 2000. Several leaders in the movement met to discuss concerns raised by six stakeholder groups: consumers, family members, practitioners, administrators, policy makers, and researchers. Recurrent themes relate to concerns regarding the limits of science, diversion of funding from valued practices, increased costs, feasibility, prior investments in other practices, and shifts in power and control. The authors recommend that all stakeholder groups be involved in further dialog and planning to ensure that practices emerge that represent the integration of the best research evidence with clinical expertise and consumer values.

Community Participation↗