Peer approaches to implementation science in Massachusetts early psychosis research: Walking a thousand Miles in our shoes

Tyler Gabriel Josma, Lionel Frechette, Antachia Brown, Peter T. Durning, Tay Onyenaka, Sarah “Punky” Dreyfus, Loc Ironwood, & Vera A. Muñiz-Saurré

Background: Peer services are effective in improving the health outcomes of people who experience psychosis (Chinman et al., 2014; Davidson et al., 2012; Kamon & Turner, 2013; Walker & Bryant, 2013; Trachtenberg et al., 2013). This is in spite of research funding structures, policy makers, and researchers being historically resistant to meaningfully incorporating consumer perspectives in the design and implementation of healthcare services (Callejas & Jones, 2022). Growing criticism of elitism in academic knowledge production systems that exclude direct stakeholders presents opportunities to center peer professionals in identifying areas of growth through a framework of meaningful Participatory Design (van der Velden & Mörtberg, 2015) grounded in commitment to community relationships and centering local perspectives. The Massachusetts Psychosis Prevention Partnership (M3P) is a network of programs supported by the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) and the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). M3P organizes planning committees that inform the Massachusetts Strategic Plan for Early Psychosis (Mass-STEP) and includes people with lived experience serving on one (or more) of five subcommittees including the Lived Experience Expertise and Equity/Access Subcommittees that designed this investigation.
Methods: This housing environmental scan is part of a larger coordinated environmental scan series through the Massachusetts Psychosis Prevention Partnership (M3P) coordinated by M3P’s Lived Experience Expertise and Equity/Access Subcommittees and represents a conscious effort by Massachusetts peer specialist researchers to present the investigational value of peer work in the realm of quality improvement and implementation sciences within clinical research structures. This investigation was built on a framework of Meaningful Participatory Design in collaboration with and led by individuals who experience psychosis in all levels of planning, investigation, and data visualization. The scan methodology is composed of primarily quantitative data collected from literature review of publicly available sources, clinic demographic and fidelity metrics, research data sets, and quantitative survey data distributed to key stakeholders in clinical and housing spaces. Qualitative data from key informant interviews, focus groups, and open response survey data was used to enrich and contextualize findings. Findings were reported using a novel NOISIE Analysis (Needs, Opportunities, Improvements, Strengths, Intersections, Essence) method modified from a traditional NOISE analysis (Needs, Opportunities, Improvements, Strengths, Exceptions) which is used to examine the internal and external complexities of a business or project with a solution-focused lens.