Designing Communication Processes for the Use of Psychiatric Advance Directives as Resources for the Patient-Centered Management of Mental Health Crises

Dr. Joshua Barbour and Ms. Billy Table are collaborating with Dr. Virginia Brown, Principal Investigator and Assistant Professor at Dell Medical School, and Dr. Jorge Almeida, CO-PI and Director of the Bipolar Disorder Integrated Practice Unit. The proposal explains: "Psychiatric advance directives (PADs), modeled after healthcare advance directives, provide capacitated persons a means to communicate future mental health treatment wishes and preferences in the event of an incapacitating mental health crisis." Our project will study the organizational communication processes involved in putting PADs into practice. The project is supported by a $7,629 flash-funding grant from the UT Austin Center for Health Communication. This study joins Dr. Brown's larger effort to support the adoption and institutionalization of PADs in clinical settings.