Improving Engagement in Black Clients Participating in Coordinated Specialty Care: A Mixed Methods Pilot Study

Project Summary The National Institute of Mental Health has developed the Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET) to learn from the national implementation of coordinated specialty care (CSC) for first episode psychosis (FEP). We propose an EPINET node [Connection Learning Health System (LHS)] that will support uniform data collection, analysis,

feedback, and infrastructure development to promote a cultural of continuous quality improvement across 14 well- established CSC programs in Maryland and Pennsylvania serving over 500 young adult clients per year in urban, suburban, and rural settings. We will implement a core assessment battery and develop a system to manage and

analyze data across programs and to provide feedback to programs on patient outcomes and fidelity to the CSC model. Building on our experience in cross-state clinician training and consultation, we will expand our existing learning collaborative for CSC implementation in Maryland into a cross-state an LHS that will identify clinical

questions, analyze data, and apply findings to optimize practice across all of our CSC programs. We propose a practice-based research project to adapt a motivational interviewing intervention for nontreatment-seeking heavy cannabis-using adolescents to target CSC engagement, medication adherence, and risk reduction to improve use,

functioning, and recovery outcomes in FEP patients who are persistent cannabis users. We will work with the EPINET National Data Coordinating Center to implement standard measures and share common data elements to answer clinical questions to improve CSC for young adults experiencing FEP.