{"id":9462,"date":"2020-02-05T13:34:07","date_gmt":"2020-02-05T18:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/cecmh\/?p=9462"},"modified":"2020-11-04T15:27:58","modified_gmt":"2020-11-04T20:27:58","slug":"update-to-tmact-specialist-subscale-rating-guidelines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/psych\/cecmh\/update-to-tmact-specialist-subscale-rating-guidelines\/","title":{"rendered":"Update to TMACT Specialist Subscale Rating Guidelines"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"michal<\/p>\n

An update has been posted today and shared with all TMACT users across the US and abroad, as well as posted on our website (where you can download the TMACT).<\/p>\n

When developing the TMACT, we omitted DACTS\u2019 items that addressed features of the team that were not necessarily defining of ACT program fidelity, albeit likely influential on overall program fidelity.\u00a0\u00a0These included two DACTS items: Continuity of Staffing (H5) and Staff Capacity (H6).\u00a0\u00a0Despite our excluding these two items, we came to incorporate into the protocol rating rules intended to avoid penalizing teams for periodic, unavoidable staff turnover.<\/p>\n

Applied solely to the Specialist Team (ST) subscale, if the specialist position (i.e., ST1, ST4, ST7) was newly filled or recently vacated, we included an option to not rate them on the subsequent performance items (i.e., ST2 and ST3; ST5 and ST6; ST8). The following is a rating guideline example from ST1 (p.68, Part II):<\/p>\n

\u201cNOTE: If there is no COD specialist on the team, rate this item as a \u201c1,\u201d but do not rate ST2 and ST3 if COD specialist vacancy has been less than 6 months. Also, rate COD specialists hired within past two months on this item, which will likely be a low rating as they likely are not yet operating fully within their specialty role, but do not rate on ST2 and ST3. If hired more than two months before review, rate new specialist on ST2 and ST3.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

We have observed that the conditions, as listed, are exceedingly forgiving of teams that experience excessive staff turnover, which was not our intention and compromises the scale\u2019s validity.\u00a0\u00a0As such, we are enacting the following update, which observes the intention of the DACTS while also continuing to observe our aim to not penalize teams for natural, periodic staff turnover:<\/p>\n

\u201cNOTE: There is an option to skip the subsequent ratings for the \u201cIn Treatment\u201d and \u201cWithin Team\u201d performance items if this position is vacant for a short period, or if recently filled with a new employee. To qualify for this option, the following conditions must be met:<\/p>\n