People with serious mental illness (SMI), including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and severe depression, represent the population most at risk for health disparities in the United States, with multiple co-occurring medical and social vulnerabilities that place them at disproportionate risk for COVID-19 acquisition, morbidity, and mortality. Without education, training, and support for prevention of COVID-19, negative outcomes for this group could have spillover effects on the larger community. The COVID-19 pandemic emerged approximately 5 months after the launch in fall 2019 of our pragmatic clinical study, “Integrated Physical and Mental Health Self-Management Compared with Chronic Disease Self-Management,” which compared the Integrated Illness Management and Recovery (IIMR) program, an intervention developed specifically for people with SMI, and the Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP), developed for use in the general population. This study enrolled adult service users from 2 large community mental health centers: 1 in Louisville, Kentucky, and 1 in Clarksville, Tennessee. We applied for and received a COVID-19 Enhancement award to develop a 3-session intervention to add to IIMR so that we could teach people with SMI how to avoid catching or spreading COVID-19.
