Power of Patients, Sandy Pruett Project launch psychosis recognition research

Power of Patients and the Sandy Pruett Project have launched a research effort to test whether caregiver and lived-experience data can help first responders recognize psychosis more quickly and respond with better information. The initiative is in development and will gather input from caregivers, people with lived experience, clinicians, researchers and first responders.

Why it matters: - Families often see behavioral and functional changes before a mental health crisis becomes obvious to others. - The project aims to turn those observations into a structured tool that could support first responders during psychosis-related encounters. - The work could help close a gap between early warning signs and access to care in crisis situations.

What happened: - Power of Patients and the Sandy Pruett Project announced a partnership to explore whether caregiver and lived-experience data can identify measurable patterns associated with psychosis. - The initiative will study whether those patterns can support a structured assessment framework for first responders. - The project is based in Greenville, South Carolina, and was announced Sept. 29, 2026. - The research effort is open to caregivers, people with lived experience, first responders, clinicians, researchers and other community stakeholders.

The details: - The framework is in the research and development phase and has not been validated. - The team will examine behavioral, functional and caregiver-reported changes for consistent indicators of psychosis. - Researchers will assess whether the findings justify continued development and formal validation studies. - The proposed assessment is not intended to diagnose psychosis, replace clinical judgment, establish legal thresholds or authorize intervention. - The project is focused on whether meaningful patterns can be identified for real-world decision support. - Power of Patients is a digital health technology company focused on patient-reported outcomes and clinical decision support. - The Sandy Pruett Project works on awareness, education and policy reform for families affected by untreated severe mental illness. - The collaboration builds on Power of Patients technology previously developed for traumatic brain injury and concussion assessment. - The Sallie platform helps patients and caregivers track symptoms and health changes over time. - The Injury Impact Severity Score supports assessment and clinical decision-making related to brain injury. - Researchers will evaluate whether parts of that data-driven approach can be adapted to psychosis. - Power of Patients invited participants to learn more and sign up on its Psychosis Research page.

Between the lines: - The effort reflects a push to formalize family-observed warning signs into data that could be used in field encounters. - The project also signals caution: the groups are positioning the framework as decision support, not a diagnostic or legal tool. - By involving caregivers and first responders together, the initiative is trying to bridge the gap between lived experience and emergency response.

What's next: - The partners will collect input from the invited stakeholder groups and evaluate whether the data reveals repeatable psychosis indicators. - If the pattern-finding work is promising, the team may advance to continued development and formal validation studies. - The research could later inform a broader assessment framework for use in real-world response settings.

The bottom line: - Power of Patients and the Sandy Pruett Project are testing whether family and caregiver observations can become a structured psychosis recognition tool for first responders.