SATISFACTION WITH MENTAL-HEALTH TREATMENT IN A RANDOMIZED TRIAL OF CONSUMER CASE-MANAGEMENT

It was hypothesized that the clients assigned to a consumer team of ca se managers, because they share similar life experiences interacting w ith the mental health system, would have greater satisfaction with men tal health treatment than clients assigned to a team of nonconsumer ca se managers. Ninety-one clients with serious and persistent mental ill ness randomly assigned to consumer and nonconsumer case management tea ms were interviewed after 1 year of service. While clients served by a consumer team of case managers were less satisfied with mental health treatment, personal characteristics of individual case managers were more important in explaining differences in satisfaction with treatmen t than whether the client was served by the consumer or nonconsumer te am.