A critical time intervention with mentally ill homeless men - Impact on psychiatric symptoms

We describe the impact of a psychosocial intervention, critical time interv ention (CTI), on the cardinal symptom dimensions of schizophrenia, namely n egative, positive, and general psychopathology. Ninety-six men with schizop hrenia and other psychotic disorders who were discharged from a homeless sh elter were randomly assigned to receive either CTI or usual services only. CTI is a time-limited intervention designed to enhance continuity of care d uring the transition from institution to community. Symptom severity at bas eline and at 6 months was assessed using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale. Using data on 76 subjects for whom we have complete symptom data, w e assessed the impact of CTI on change in symptoms. The results suggest tha t CTI was associated with a statistically significant decrease in negative symptoms at the 6-month follow-up, reflecting modest clinical improvement. There was no significant effect on positive or general psychopathology symp toms.