Approximately 100,000 young people experience first episode psychosis (FEP) each year in the U.S. For decades, symptoms of FEP were viewed as inevitable precursors to chronic disability associated with severe mental illness. Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) is an evidence-based, early intervention model to address FEP in community settings. Randomized controlled trials and other studies demonstrate that evidence-based early intervention can promote improved mental health, social functioning, and quality of life for young people with early psychosis.

Description of evidence and theory used to inform program development/implementation

The Early Psychosis Intervention Network (EPINET) was established through the National Institute of Mental Health in 2019. Through partnerships with five Regional Scientific Hubs, 59 CSC clinics, and the EPINET National Data Coordinating Center, EPINET will link clinical sites through standard clinical measures and participant-level data. The goal of EPINET is to support practice-based research to improve early detection, diagnosis, service delivery, and clinical outcomes for persons in the early stages of psychotic illness.

Description of program activities and outcomes, or plan to evaluation outcomes

In 2020, the EPINET Steering Committee, composed of early psychosis researchers and clinical experts, established the EPINET Core Assessment Battery (CAB), which includes key domains of early psychosis psychopathology, recovery, contextual factors and treatment elements that can reasonably be included in the data collection efforts within CSC clinics and facilitate research efforts among a scientific community of researchers. This session will present domains included in the CAB and demonstrate how data may be used to advance research into risk and protective factors, treatment and the individualization of services for young people with early psychosis.

Conclusions

The CAB will guide data collection efforts across the country and serve as a repository for pooled analyses that can promote a learning health care system in early psychosis care.

Recommendations for Practice

The CAB provides state administrators, researchers, and administrators with measures important to early psychosis. Wide adoptions of the CAB is likely to lead to a shared vocabulary and compelling research to improve the lives of individuals with FEP and their families.