A statewide assessment of psychosocial rehabilitation programs: General characteristics and services

Psychosocial rehabilitation (PSR) encompasses a diverse array of skill-buil ding and environmental support services for individuals with serious mental illness. The current study gleaned information from state Department of Me ntal Death (DMH) databases and interviews with program directors to describ e general characteristics and services of 22 out of 24 PSR programs in one New England state. Results underscored the relative predominance of service s targeting social rehabilitation rather than vocational, educational, or r esidential rehabilitation. In addition, density of service provision across agencies was unrelated to enrollment or daily attendance ;statistics. Furt hermore, low validity coefficients between mandated reporting statistics an d information collected via interviews were found, suggesting the need to d evelop more valid and reliable reporting systems. Finally four areas of con cern were highlighted substantial discrepancies between average membership enrollment and daily attendance, low percentages of peer-managed activities predominance of services in traditional clinical settings, and lack of att ention to multicultural issues.