A brief goal-setting and planning intervention to improve well-being for people with psychiatric disorders.
The aim of the current study was to develop the evidence for a brief intervention that targets goal-setting and planning skills (GAP) to improve well-being. Having goals for the future and being able to make progress towards them are key components of many theoretical approaches to well-being [9] and GAP has shown promising results with non-clinical populations [10] , as well as for people with depression [6] and forensic inpatients [7] . We investigated whether GAP could be effectively implemented for people with psychiatric disorders accessing specialist mental health services. As a secondary aim, the study design allowed for some exploration of the feasibility of mental health professionals incorporating a brief intervention focused on well-being into their routine practice. A total of 82 service users were recruited through a large mental health trust in the Greater London area. Participants were eligible for the study if they were: (1) aged 18 or over, (2) in contact (or eligible for contact) with specialist mental health services provided by the trust and (3) willing to take part in a group. Insufficient understanding of verbal and written English was used as an exclusion criterion due to the nature of the intervention. A cross-over design was used, with participants initially randomly allocated to either the intervention or a waiting-list control group. Participants allocated to the waiting-list condition were offered the intervention after they had completed their measures as controls and follow-up measures were taken from all participants 1 month after completing the intervention (see fig. 1 ). Recent policy developments in the UK [1, 2] and internationally [3] have highlighted the need for mental health professionals to adjust their working practices and place more emphasis on promoting well-being. However, it has also been recognised that workforce skills in this area may be lacking and that more emphasis should be placed on developing the evidence base to help mental health professionals promote well-being and support recovery [4] . The benefits of incorporating approaches from positive psychology into existing understandings of mental health problems have been discussed [4, 5] and there have been a few recent studies that have taken preliminary steps to establish the efficacy of interventions focused on well-being with particular clinical groups [6–8] . However, the research literature in this area is still very limited. Received: March 29, 2013 Accepted after revision: October 9, 2013 Published online: January 22, 2014