Promoting Treatment Adherence in Assertive Community Treatment

Treatment adherence is a fundamental challenge for programs that serve people with serious mental illness. Assertive community treatment (ACT) is a comprehensive treatment approach that is designed to mitigate adherence barriers. Although ACT is recognized as an evidence‐based practice, the model has been criticized as paternalistic and coercive in its approach to promoting adherence. This article examines the ways that service providers in two ACT programs promote treatment adherence in standard practice. The study conceptualizes the adherence‐promoting behaviors of ACT providers as social influence strategies. It uses qualitative methods and a grounded dimensional analysis approach to examine the ways in which ACT providers grapple with and manage nonadherence.