Evaluating group rehabilitation activities in a residential psychiatric context

Introduction. The project aims at identifying, among the group rehabilitation activities offered by Fondazione Adele Bonolis - As.Fra., a psychiatric residential facility accredited with the Italian National Health Service in Lombardy region, the specific process indicators of a good functioning of group activities, according to PREM (patient reported experience measure) approach. Methods. In order to do this, a Grounded Theory method will be adopted, whereby staff and patients will be interviewed about their experiences of group rehabilitation activities; from these interviews, the aim will be to bring out a poll of specific indicators of a "good functioning" of group rehabilitation activities, taking into account the differences between the activities belonging to the different typologies and the adopted intervention methodologies, identifying the processes of construction of the "therapeutic nature" of group activities. Results. Therefore, starting from the unique experiences of the patients who participate in these activities and the practitioners who conduct them, the aim is to identify elements that hinder and promote these activities in a transversal sense. We expect to be able to extract around 10-15 indicators of the elements considered by patients and clinicians as useful for the treatment process of group rehabilitation activities. Discussion. The first and most direct gain of the present study is to come up with a questionnaire that can be used in the evaluation of group rehabilitation activities, regardless of the area to which they pertain. In fact, there does not seem to be such a wide-ranging instrument in the literature, which can also allow a comparison between different group rehabilitation activities. Furthermore, but primarily with respect to the first point, the study will make it possible to focus on which elements are subjectively experienced by patients as useful for them in such group rehabilitation contexts. Similarly, it will make it possible to identify the most effective groups, to study their characteristics and implementation processes in greater depth. Therefore, the study should offer some tools for reflection to improve the rehabilitation offer of the Foundation, highlighting the salient points around which to design (or redesign) the group activities they provide.