A Pilot Study of MY VOICE: Strengths-Based and Self-Directed Recovery Planning

Abstract

An imbalance of power and autonomy exists between individuals with psychiatric disabilities and their treatment providers. Electronic decision support interventions (EDSI's) help individuals with psychiatric disabilities increase consumer self-determination and decision-making in care. The MY VOICE: Strengths-based and Self-Directed Recovery Planning is an EDSI designed to assist consumers in writing their own recovery plans. The purpose of this randomized waitlist controlled pilot study of the MY VOICE program was to test the hypothesis that participation in a self-directed EDSI program will lead to increases in consumer self-identified empowerment, self-determination and recovery. Findings indicate that participation in the MY VOICE program in comparison to the control group was a significant predictor of consumer self-identified recovery while participation in MY VOICE was not a significant predictor of self-identified empowerment or self-determination. The number of tasks a person completes and completion of the program itself were also not predictors of self-identified empowerment, self-determination, or recovery. Future research may need to control for the relationship with the peer-support worker facilitating the MY VOICE program, endeavor to the determine elements within the MY VOICE program that facilitate increases in self-identified recovery, and conduct qualitative analysis to better understand how participants are using their self-directed recovery plans and how they view the MY VOICE program and the peer support facilitator influencing them.