Model Fidelity of Assertive Community Treatment for Clients With First-Episode Psychosis: A Target Group-Specific Application

Assertive community treatment (ACT) is described as a team treatment model designed to provide assertive, outreaching, comprehensive, community-based, rehabilitation-oriented and supportive psychiatric services for people with severe mental illness as reported by Drake et al. (Psychiatr Serv 52: 179–182, 2001) and Teague et al. (Psychiatr Serv 68: 216–232, 1998). This study explores variations in the way the original components of ACT are implemented for the target group of clients with a first-episode psychosis, and establishes whether these variations lead the treatment model to a higher, more valuable, outcome level. The study also describes how to achieve this optimally effective application of target group-specific treatment services.