Community care and resettlement

The resettlement of people with learning disabilities from long-stay hospit als in the UK and the USA has accelerated during the past decade. The resea rch emphasis has shifted from the effects of relocation to examining the qu alify of care offered by various community-based accommodation options, and the services required to meet the needs of people with challenging behavio urs and mental health problems. Staffing issues have also become a focus of attention, along with the service systems that are intended to produce bet ter outcomes for service users, such as person-centred planning and active support from staff. Day services have not attracted the same degree of atte ntion from researchers, although interest in supported employment continues . Priorities for future research are noted. Curr Opin Psychiatry 13:491-495 . (C) 2000 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.