The Psychometric Properties of the Assertive Community Treatment Transition Readiness Scale (ATR)

• Published in: Community mental health journal Vol. 57; no. 7; pp. 1301 - 1309
• Main Authors: Cuddeback, Gary S., Wu, Juliet C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.10.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Assertive community treatment; Assertiveness; Clients; Clinical decision making; Clinical medicine; Community; Community and Environmental Psychology; Community health care; Community Mental Health Services; Evidence-based medicine; Evidence-based practice; Exploratory factor analysis; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Health care delivery; Humans; Measures; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mental disorders; Mental Disorders - therapy; Mental health care; Original Paper; Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Quantitative psychology; Questionnaires; Reliability; Reproducibility of Results; Teams; Transition; Standardized measure; Assertive community treatment; Less intensive services; Severe mental illnesses
• ISSN: 0010-3853; 1573-2789; 1573-2789
• DOI: 10.1007/s10597-021-00806-9

Assertive community treatment (ACT) is an evidence-based practice for individuals living with severe mental illnesses. Originally conceptualized as a lifetime service, there is a need for standardized measures to help ACT teams identify clients who are potentially ready for a transition to less intensive services. Here, to address this gap in the literature, the psychometric properties of the Assertive Community Treatment Transition Readiness Scale (ATR) were examined. Data on the ATR were collected from ACT staff from across the country who had experience transitioning ACT clients to less intensive services. Results from an exploratory factor analysis suggested a one-factor solution and that items on the ATR demonstrated excellent internal consistency reliability as well as predictive criterion validity and known-groups validity. The ATR is an easy-to-use, 18-item measure that has the potential, in combination with clinical judgment and practice wisdom, to be a useful tool for identifying ACT clients who could transition to a less intensive level of care.