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Meaningful Activities and Recovery (MA&R) : a co-led peer occupational therapy intervention for people with psychiatric disabilities. Results from a randomized controlled trial

Bjørkedal, Siv Therese Bogevik ; Bejerholm, Ulrika LU ; Hjorthøj, Carsten ; Møller, Tom and Eplov, Lene Falgaard (2023) In BMC Psychiatry 23(1).
Abstract

Background: Activity and participation are critical to health and wellbeing. Limited evidence exists on how to support people with mental illness in participating in everyday activities. Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of Meaningful Activities and Recovery (MA&R), a co-led peer occupational therapy intervention focusing on activity engagement, functioning, quality of life, and personal recovery. Methods: In a statistician blinded, multicenter RCT including 139 participants from seven community and municipal mental health services in Denmark, participants were randomly assigned to 1) MA&R and standard mental health care or 2) standard mental health care. The MA&R intervention lasted 8 months and consisted of 11 group... (More)

Background: Activity and participation are critical to health and wellbeing. Limited evidence exists on how to support people with mental illness in participating in everyday activities. Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of Meaningful Activities and Recovery (MA&R), a co-led peer occupational therapy intervention focusing on activity engagement, functioning, quality of life, and personal recovery. Methods: In a statistician blinded, multicenter RCT including 139 participants from seven community and municipal mental health services in Denmark, participants were randomly assigned to 1) MA&R and standard mental health care or 2) standard mental health care. The MA&R intervention lasted 8 months and consisted of 11 group sessions, 11 individual sessions, and support to engage in activities. The primary outcome, activity engagement, was measured using Profile of Occupational Engagement in People with Severe Mental Illness (POES-S). Outcomes were measured at baseline and post-intervention follow-up. Results: Meaningful Activities and Recovery was delivered with high fidelity and 83% completed the intervention. It did not demonstrate superiority to standard mental health care, as intention-to treat analysis revealed no significant differences between the groups in activity engagement or any of the secondary outcomes. Conclusion: We did not find positive effects of MA&R, possibly because of COVID-19 and related restrictions. Fidelity assessments and adherence rates suggest that MA&R is feasible and acceptable. However, future studies should focus on refining the intervention before investigating its effectiveness. Trial registration: The trial was registered 24/05/2019 at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03963245.

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author
; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Community mental health, Evaluation, Peer support, Psychiatric disabilities, Psychosocial intervention, Rehabilitation
in
BMC Psychiatry
volume
23
issue
1
article number
406
publisher
BioMed Central (BMC)
external identifiers
  • pmid:37280561
  • scopus:85161161101
ISSN
1471-244X
DOI
10.1186/s12888-023-04875-w
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
dc9d9955-6723-487b-a789-42f8e0b506b4
date added to LUP
2023-08-15 14:21:18
date last changed
2024-04-20 00:40:21
@article{dc9d9955-6723-487b-a789-42f8e0b506b4,
  abstract     = {{<p>Background: Activity and participation are critical to health and wellbeing. Limited evidence exists on how to support people with mental illness in participating in everyday activities. Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of Meaningful Activities and Recovery (MA&amp;R), a co-led peer occupational therapy intervention focusing on activity engagement, functioning, quality of life, and personal recovery. Methods: In a statistician blinded, multicenter RCT including 139 participants from seven community and municipal mental health services in Denmark, participants were randomly assigned to 1) MA&amp;R and standard mental health care or 2) standard mental health care. The MA&amp;R intervention lasted 8 months and consisted of 11 group sessions, 11 individual sessions, and support to engage in activities. The primary outcome, activity engagement, was measured using Profile of Occupational Engagement in People with Severe Mental Illness (POES-S). Outcomes were measured at baseline and post-intervention follow-up. Results: Meaningful Activities and Recovery was delivered with high fidelity and 83% completed the intervention. It did not demonstrate superiority to standard mental health care, as intention-to treat analysis revealed no significant differences between the groups in activity engagement or any of the secondary outcomes. Conclusion: We did not find positive effects of MA&amp;R, possibly because of COVID-19 and related restrictions. Fidelity assessments and adherence rates suggest that MA&amp;R is feasible and acceptable. However, future studies should focus on refining the intervention before investigating its effectiveness. Trial registration: The trial was registered 24/05/2019 at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03963245.</p>}},
  author       = {{Bjørkedal, Siv Therese Bogevik and Bejerholm, Ulrika and Hjorthøj, Carsten and Møller, Tom and Eplov, Lene Falgaard}},
  issn         = {{1471-244X}},
  keywords     = {{Community mental health; Evaluation; Peer support; Psychiatric disabilities; Psychosocial intervention; Rehabilitation}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{BioMed Central (BMC)}},
  series       = {{BMC Psychiatry}},
  title        = {{Meaningful Activities and Recovery (MA&R) : a co-led peer occupational therapy intervention for people with psychiatric disabilities. Results from a randomized controlled trial}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12888-023-04875-w}},
  doi          = {{10.1186/s12888-023-04875-w}},
  volume       = {{23}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}