Case Study Analysis of a Decision Coaching Intervention for Young Adults with Early Psychosis

• Published in: Community mental health journal Vol. 61; no. 5; pp. 874 - 889
• Main Authors: Thomas, Elizabeth C., Lucksted, Alicia, Siminoff, Laura A., Hurford, Irene, O’Connell, Maria, Penn, David L., Casey, Irene, Smith, Margaret, Suarez, John, Salzer, Mark S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.07.2025; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Case studies; Coaching; Community and Environmental Psychology; Conflict; Critical thinking; Decision Making; Early intervention; Empowerment; Evidence-based medicine; Feasibility; Feasibility Studies; Female; Fidelity; Humans; Information seeking behavior; Intervention; Interviews; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical decision making; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mentoring - methods; Motivation; Original Paper; Psychiatry; Psychosis; Psychotic Disorders - psychology; Psychotic Disorders - therapy; Qualitative Research; Specialists; Young Adult; Young adults; Emerging adults; Peer support; Shared decision making; Coordinated specialty care; First-episode psychosis
• ISSN: 0010-3853; 1573-2789; 1573-2789
• DOI: 10.1007/s10597-024-01425-w

Young adults with early psychosis often disengage from essential early intervention services (i.e., Coordinated Specialty Care or CSC in the United States). While decision support interventions improve service engagement, their use in this population is underexplored. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, fidelity, and potential impact of a decision coaching intervention for young adults with early psychosis in CSC services. Using a mixed-method, longitudinal, collective case study design, we assessed the intervention's impact on decision-making needs through the Decisional Conflict Scale and qualitative interviews. We also evaluated feasibility, fidelity, and acceptability through observations and feedback from interventionists and participants. Eight young adults from three CSC programs participated, showing variable engagement, with generally favorable fidelity and acceptability ratings. The Decisional Conflict Scale revealed mixed findings, while four themes from qualitative interviews emerged: Perspective and Information Seeking, Motivation and Prioritization, Empowerment and Confidence, and Critical Thinking and Evaluation. The findings suggest that training CSC providers—including peer specialists and clinicians—to deliver decision coaching with fidelity is feasible, well-received by young adults, and potentially impactful on decision-making. Replication in a larger controlled trial, addressing observed study limitations, is warranted. This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT04532034) on August 28, 2020, as Temple University Protocol Record 261047, Facilitating Engagement in Evidence-Based Treatment for Early Psychosis (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04532034?term=NCT04532034&draw=2&rank=1).