Individual Placement and Support (IPS) for Serious Mental Illness in Jalisco, Mexico

The researchers propose to adapt, implement, and evaluate the Individual Placement and Support (IPS) model for people with serious mental illness (PSMI) in Jalisco, Mexico. Substantial data indicate that IPS can help PSMI succeed in competitive employment (i.e., 55% on average, but over 60% in credible studies). In addition, successful employment through IPS has been shown to improve quality of life, self-esteem, and community integration, and to reduce symptoms, hospitalizations, and mental health costs. With the partial exception of Chile, no country in Latin America offers IPS services. Previous regional research has reported that PSMI experience extreme poverty, exclusion from educational and employment opportunities, and multiple traumas, including violence and abuse. Evidence-based, locally adapted initiatives to improve the living conditions and social inclusion of this vulnerable population are warranted.

In Mexico, mental health care for PSMI is often fragmented and does not follow evidence-based practices (EBP). The Jalisco Mental Health System, a large network of mental health facilities throughout the state of Jalisco, is an exception. The researchers plan to implement IPS at the Center for Comprehensive Care in Long-Stay Mental Health (CAISAME-EB, in Spanish), the largest mental health clinic in Jalisco. CAISAME-EB integrates primary care and provides medication and psychosocial rehabilitation services to a large population of PSMI (n=~5,000). The usual care services are of lower intensity than IPS and lack most of its key components.

This team serves marginalized communities similar to other urban areas in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in Latin America and elsewhere. In addition, the regional government of Jalisco has committed to expanding the implementation of the adapted IPS program if the trial is successful.

Ricardo Saracco (National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz, INPRF) and Alejandro Aldana (Jalisco Institute of Mental Health, IJSM) have brought together key stakeholders to collaborate with researchers in the US (Susser, Dixon, Bello, Mascayano). All have extensive expertise in psychosis research and in the implementation of evidence-based mental health practices in a variety of contexts, including Latin America. In addition, the INPRF and IJSM teams have a long-standing relationship in Mexico and have recently collaborated with the US team on a study of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on health care workers (e.g., the Health Care Workers HEROES study).

The investigators will initially use the Dynamic Adaptation Process model9 to inform the adaptation of IPS in Mexico. The investigators note that IPS has been adapted for successful implementation in more than 20 countries and for marginalized communities within the US (e.g., Latinxs). This prior experience and our deep understanding of the local context (e.g., the nature of the nature of the labor market in Mexico) will inform the adaptations. Second, the researchers will evaluate the implementation and impact of the revised intervention in a pilot RCT (N = 120). This pilot RCT will include quantitative and qualitative assessments at baseline, 6, and 12 months, conducted with clients (e.g., employment, financial well-being of the investigators), providers (e.g., attitudes toward the intervention), and providers (e.g., attitudes toward the intervention), (e.g., attitudes toward EBP), and other key stakeholders (e.g., potential employers). The researchers primary goals are to refine implementation processes, understand outcomes and tools, and assess investigators for a future, regional trial in Latin America.