SÉCuRE: A clinical tool for comprehensively assessing home safety of people with mental illness

Introduction People with severe mental illness benefit from a growing number of measures aimed at supporting independent housing. The purpose of the study was to develop a comprehensive home safety assessment tool. Method The tool's elaboration was done in three phases. The planning phase was intended to circumscribe the phenomenon, providing input for the development phase, which consisted of creating and enhancing the tool's prototypes. The evaluation phase then featured the tool's translation validity (relevance, exhaustiveness, clarity, and apparent clinical utility), with four successive rounds of expert consultation (n = 20). Changes were made to the tool according to the experts' suggestions. Findings The proposed tool, SÉCuRE, adopts a structured professional judgment approach that is designed to be used collaboratively and interprofessionally, with a specific role for occupational therapists. It aims to systematize the assessment of contributive factors (risk and protective), all stakeholders' expectations and needs and the identification of potential ethical issues. The findings supported the translation validity and acceptance of the tool by clinicians. Conclusion SÉCuRE was developed to assist with clinical judgment regarding home safety interventions. It is hoped that its use may ultimately foster home safety in the context of recovery.