Practical Strategies and Tools to Promote Treatment Engagement

This practice-building resource examines the psychology behind non-adherence and the importance of building commitment to treatment as the foundation of successful therapy. Coverage starts by illustrating the complex phenomena of non-adherence at different stages of intervention—including mechanisms and situations that may prevent even initial engagement. From there, experts from diverse specialties offer interest-promoting strategies tailored to specific conditions (diabetes, anxiety, depression) and populations (children, dually diagnosed patients), informed by the current knowledge base on treatment effectiveness and recent technological advances. And the editors make patient-centered recommendations for the health and mental health professions to make therapy more accessible and open.

Among the topics covered:

· Meeting patients where they are: using a stage approach to facilitate engagement.

· &

nbsp; Use of mindfulness in promoting treatment engagement.

· DBT and treatment engagement in the context of highly suicidal complex clients.

· Behavioral Problems in children: ADHD and ODD.

· Engagement of patients in the self-management of pain.

· Engaging trauma survivors in treatment.

A breakthrough in the behavioral health delivery services literature, Practical Strategies and Tools to Promote Tre

atment Engagement offers real-world tools, guidelines, and expertise to health psychologists, primary care physicians and nurses, clinical psychologists, and clinical social workers. It is a vivid reminder that patients need not only what’s good for them, but also what works for them.

William O’Donohue, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and chairman and professor of psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno, and an adjunct professor in the department of philosophy and a faculty member of the National Judicial College. He has published over 70 books and 150 journal articles and book chapters. He holds advanced degrees both in philosophy and psychology. For the past 14 years, he has been director of a free clinic that treats children who have been sexually abused and adults who have been sexually assaulted. Larry James, Phd is the former chair of the Department of Psychology at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He is currently the chair of the psychology department at Tripler Army Medical Center , Honolulu. Dr James is a Colonel in the U.S. Army who recently was awarded a Bronze Star for distinguished service in Iraq. He is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association(Division 38 Health Psychology, Division 12 Clinical Psychology and Division 19 Military Psychology). Dr James is ABPP-certified in clinical psychology and health psychology and has served as president of Division 38 Health Psychology. Cassandra Snipes is a doctoral student of clinical psychology at the University of Nevada, Reno and has experience in implementation of treatment engagement principles through her employment at the Center for Health Care Evaluation at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Palo Alto and Stanford University. She has served as a research coordinator for a randomly controlled trial investigating avenues for reducing direct and indirect healthcare costs for individuals with multiple diagnoses. She also has also developed and implemented several trainings focused on treatment adherence and motivational interviewing. She currently treats victims of sexual and physical abuse through a free clinic operated at the University of Nevada, Reno.