THE ROLE OF CASE-MANAGEMENT WITHIN A COMMUNITY SUPPORT SYSTEM - PARTNERSHIP WITH PSYCHOSOCIAL REHABILITATION

The Strengths model of team case management was assessed relative to a n existing high quality psychosocial rehabilitation program that infor mally provided many services typical of case management (e.g., service linkage, monitoring, and consumer advocacy). The experimental evaluat ion triangulated consumer and family member responses with mental heal th professional reports and consumer records of hospitalization and cr isis center contacts. An analysis of data from these four sources reve aled that one year after full program implementation, consumers who re ceived case management in conjunction with psychosocial rehabilitation functioned at a higher level of competency and experienced significan tly lower psychiatric symptomatology than consumers who received only psychosocial rehabilitation. Implications for the successful integrati on of case management into an existing community support program are d iscussed.