Gb. Cox et al., OUTCOME OF A CONTROLLED TRIAL OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF INTENSIVE CASE-MANAGEMENT FOR CHRONIC PUBLIC INEBRIATES, Journal of studies on alcohol, 59(5), 1998, pp. 523-532
Objective: The objective of this study was to test whether an intensiv
e case management intervention would he effective with a group of home
less chronic public inebriate clients. The primary goals of the case m
anagement were to improve the financial and residential stability of t
he clients and to reduce their use of alcohol. Method: Subjects (N = 2
98, 81% male) were interviewed at baseline, randomly assigned to treat
ment and control conditions and given follow-up interviews at 6-month
intervals for 2 years. Case management services were provided for the
duration of the project. Follow-up rates for the first three interview
s averaged 82%. Results: Repeated measures MANCOVAs showed significant
group differences favoring the case-managed group in all three areas
targeted by the intervention: total income from public sources, nights
spent in ''own place'' out of the previous 60 nights and days drinkin
g out of the previous 30 days. The results held whether the three vari
ables were analyzed jointly or separately and for alternative measures
of drinking and homelessness. Although statistically significant, the
group differences are generally not large. Conclusions: The results i
ndicate that case management had a beneficial effect on the clients re
ceiving it. This effect may have been the result of an increase in ser
vices received by the case-managed clients.