Evaluation of a community treatment program for young adult schizophrenics

✍ Scribed by Sybil McClary; Bernard Lubin; Carol Evans; Barbara Watt; Morty Lebedun

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1989
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 204 KB
• Volume: 45
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-4679(198909)45:5<806::aid-jclp2270450518>3.0.co;2-l

✦ Synopsis

To evaluate a program of intensive case management for young adult chronic schizophrenics released from a large urban state mental health facility, several interrupted time series analyses were conducted over an 18-month period on 64 patients. Findings indicate that the intensive, active, and reactive role of case managers contributes signficantly to the effectiveness of an aftercare, community-based treatment program.

Two decades of experimentation with the shift of psychiatric patients from state hospitals to community living have produced a social movement of great potential significance to the individuals and communities involved and to the states that fund the programs (Bloom, 1984). Among the most recent efforts, case management programs seem to offer promise both for improving cost effectiveness of such programs and the quality of life of participants in the program (Baker & Weiss, 1984; Franklin, Solovitz, Mason, Clemons, & Miller, 1987; Intagliata, 1986). These programs include frequent telephone and face-to-face contact; confrontation when necessary with regard to medication compliance; along with agency referrals, informal counseling, and immediate reaction to client crises by case managers who rotate 24-hour and weekend call schedules (Intagliata, 1986).

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a case management program with young adult chronic schizophrenic patients (Intagliata & Baker, 1984) in terms of operational measures and quality of life for participants.