CSC OnDemand: An Innovative Online Learning Platform for Implementing Coordinated Specialty Care

In response to the growing need for training on interventions to address first episode psychosis, the Center for Social Innovation (C4) partnered with experts in Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) to develop and test CSC OnDemand: An Innovative Online Learning Platform for Implementing Coordinated Specialty Care. The product builds on the findings of the Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode (RAISE) studies, funded by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). RAISE examined team-based models of care for people early in the course of schizophrenia. Through a Fast Track Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant, investigators will prototype, test, refine, and evaluate the impact of CSC OnDemand.

Building on existing resources and the expertise of our faculty and advisors, the investigators developed CSC OnDemand, a multifaceted online learning product that includes four levels: 1) an online readiness tool and CSC Learning Hub; 2) dynamic multimedia core curriculum on first episode psychosis and CSC; 3) live faculty-led online courses; and 4) ongoing support, including an online community of practice to support peer-to-peer learning.

During Phases I and II of this Fast Track SBIR, the investigators prototyped, pilot tested, built out, and evaluated the product through a cluster randomized study comparing it with InPerson training (and due to the global pandemic, a "virtual" in person training, using Zoom to train with the same curriculum as in-person, creating (unexpectedly) three study arms).

Phase I built a robust prototype of the online platform and tested it with 16 providers from three sites. This phase explored feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of the product, and examined which components of the online platform providers found most useful.

Based on our findings from Phase I, the investigators refined and fully built out the product to test in a larger randomized trial. Phase II used a cluster randomized non-inferiority design to assess if OnDemand training (n = 20 sites) was comparable to InPerson training (n = 10 sites). Using a mixed-methods approach, the investigators examined provider (n enrolled was 239; after attrition 206) outcomes (satisfaction; knowledge gains/retention; attitudes toward shared decision making) and client (n = 110) outcomes (work/school participation; engagement in CSC services; inpatient psychiatric hospitalizations).

The study was guided by the following specific aims:

Phase II AIM 1: To refine, expand, and finalize CSC OnDemand based on Phase I findings.

AIM 2: To examine the differences in outcomes of OnDemand training intervention as compared to the InPerson and Virtual In Person interventions as it related to CSC providers knowledge and shared decision making (SDM). Hypothesis: Providers in the OnDemand condition will achieve increases in knowledge, SDM and satisfaction at post training and nine months that will be no more than .5 standard deviations less than the InPerson or Virtual InPerson condition.

AIM 3: To determine if the OnDemand training intervention is as successful as the InPerson or Virtual InPerson training in increasing participation in work or school, improving engagement in treatment, and decreasing relapse rates for participating clients. Hypothesis: Clients being served by the providers in the OnDemand condition will have work/school participation rates, levels of engagement and rates of hospitalization nine months after admission that are no more than 10 percent higher (hospitalization) or lower (work/school, engagement) than clients served by providers in the InPerson or Virtual InPerson condition.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

Agencies will need to provide:

* direct care to individuals with early psychosis;
* administrative-level support for training and use of the CSC model;
* an entire treatment team that is willing to participate in this team-based intervention;
* contact information for direct service staff;
* support for the study, including a staff person to serve as a liaison to work with the research team;
* access to the Internet during the intervention period; and
* a willingness to provide data and participate in the evaluation.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Teams should not have previously received CSC training.