Creating Welcoming Faith Communities for People With Serious Mental Illnesses

NCT ID: NCT06336980

Last Updated: 2024-05-06

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: RECRUITING
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 700 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2024-01-22
• Study Completion Date: 2025-12-31

Brief Summary

The goal of this intervention study is to test a behavioral intervention to increase inclusionary practices toward individuals with serious mental illness in faith communities. The main questions it aims to answer are:

1. To determine if the behavior-based intervention leads to an increase in inclusionary practices (e.g., conducting outreach with mental health agencies).

2. To determine if the behavior-based intervention is effective in increasing inclusive practices by members and leaders of faith communities.

3. To determine if the intervention leads to a greater understand of mental illness and a decrease in stigmatizing beliefs by congregation members.

4. To determine if the intervention results in individuals with serious mental illness and their family members reporting less discrimination and increased inclusion.

Congregations will be asked to create an inclusion committee that will then work on developing systems and changing congregational practices to become more inclusive. All congregation members will be invited to a half-day training that will provide information on mental illness and inclusion, and will provide tips and strategies when they encounter situations or behaviors that are less familiar to them. All congregation members will be given the opportunity to participate in a survey about congregational practices.

Conditions

Other

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NA
• Intervention Model: SINGLE_GROUP
• Primary Study Purpose: OTHER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Behavior intervention to increase inclusionary practices

Each congregation will participate in the intervention for 11-12 months

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Increasing Inclusionary Practices in Faith Communities

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Congregational inclusion committees will participate in monthly training meetings for approximately 1 year. Each month a new inclusion practice will be introduced and then the committee will be asked to implement it in their congregation. The 11 practice areas are:1) assessing inclusion needs of members, 2) providing opportunities for members with serious mental illness (SMI) to take on roles and responsibilities, 3) creating an inclusion committee, 4) ensuring that members with SMI are welcomed to all events, 5) creating sensory friendly spaces, 6) offer participation opportunities in multiple formats, 7) adopt policies and practices to support inclusion, 8) using inclusive language, 9) ensure that external communications indicate the congregation is welcoming to all, 10) providing support to family members of individuals with SMI, and 11) conducing outreach to mental health support systems. Goals may vary per congregation based on their current practices, needs, and preferences.

Interventions

Increasing Inclusionary Practices in Faith Communities

Congregational inclusion committees will participate in monthly training meetings for approximately 1 year. Each month a new inclusion practice will be introduced and then the committee will be asked to implement it in their congregation. The 11 practice areas are:1) assessing inclusion needs of members, 2) providing opportunities for members with serious mental illness (SMI) to take on roles and responsibilities, 3) creating an inclusion committee, 4) ensuring that members with SMI are welcomed to all events, 5) creating sensory friendly spaces, 6) offer participation opportunities in multiple formats, 7) adopt policies and practices to support inclusion, 8) using inclusive language, 9) ensure that external communications indicate the congregation is welcoming to all, 10) providing support to family members of individuals with SMI, and 11) conducing outreach to mental health support systems. Goals may vary per congregation based on their current practices, needs, and preferences.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• member or attendee of the faith community participating in the training

Exclusion Criteria

• under the age of 18

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research

FED

Sponsor Role: collaborator

Temple University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Locations

Temple Univeristy

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Site Status: RECRUITING

Countries

United States

Central Contacts

Crystal Slanzi, PhD

Role: CONTACT

crystal.slanzi@temple.edu

Mark Salzer, PhD

Role: CONTACT

mark.salzer@temple.edu

215-204-7879.

Facility Contacts

Crystal Slanzi, PhD

Role: primary

crystal.slanzi@temple.edu

Other Identifiers

31021

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id