A supported living/supported employment program for reducing the number ofpeople in institutions

The discharge to the community of people who have made extensive use of sta te hospitals has become nit accepted way to reduce the number of people in institutions, to close wards and decrease costs. However, concern exists ov er the ongoing community program costs and the sustained community function ing of individuals discharged after the census reduction efforts have ended The present study investigates the program cost and community functioning of individuals discharged to an innovative transition project that was spon sored and funded jointly by the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and t he Department of Mental Health. In the original study, study, twenty-six pe ople were discharged to a supported living/supported employment program. Th is paper reports on follow-up study conducted one year after the original f ormal evaluation of the project was completed Similar to the original study the follow-up stimy assessed residential and vocational status; data on on going need for program support and program costs were collected Results ind icated that individuals were able to initialtain most of the residential an d vocational gains made during their initial year of their transition to th e community In addition hospital days remained low, and the ongoing costs o f the program per year while still substantial, were significantly less tha n the costs for the first year of their transition into the community.