Critical Time Intervention Task-Shifting for People with Psychoses in Latin America

Abstract

Gaps in continuity of care and support for adults with severe mental disorder are an especially severe problem in developing countries. Critical Time Intervention task-shifting (CTI-TS) is an adaptation designed to address a fundamental gap in the services offered by community mental health clinics in such settings. A major limitation is that these clinics have inadequate resources and training in delivering services outside of the clinic, in homes or elsewhere in the community. The authors first describe their prior experience adapting the CTI model to community mental health clinics in Rio De Janeiro (Brazil). They then outline the main features of the new CTI-TS intervention, followed by quantitative and qualitative findings from a pilot randomized controlled trial testing the intervention in Rio De Janeiro and Santiago (Chile). Although the results were not encouraging for the intervention applied, much was learned about how the model could be improved for future use in this context.