background Following an audit, the flexible assertive community treatment-teams (fact-teams), in Winterswijk, the Netherlands, set out to discover a more recovery-oriented approach to treatment and monitoring. Their findings support researching four recovery phases described previously.
aim A pilot-study to investigate the possibilities to create a more recovery-oriented working method by applying the four recovery phases – ranging from being overwhelmed by the condition to living past the condition - in fact-teams.
method The fact-teams started to monitor patients during the recovery phases and developed a semi-structured interview that can be used to determine the current recovery phase. After the phase has been determined, a plan is written on how to progress to the next phase.
results Monitoring during the recovery phases proved to be useful in showing both succesfull and stagnating treatments. The recovery phases also became part of the standard treatment plans in the electronic patient dossier. An important result of this project was the recovery-oriented interview we developed.
conclusion Monitoring and interviewing based on the four recovery phases subjectively leads to more in-depth and more recovery-oriented evaluations of treatment. More empirical research into this method is necessary.