title: Community care for the chronically mentally ill.
abstract: This article has presented the background, history, examples, and analyses of community care programs for the chronically mentally ill. From these data, it is concluded that such programs are as if not more effective an cost-efficient than conventional inpatient programs plus conventional follow-up for this population. The future, however, may depend much more on current political and economic trends than the scientific data available.
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000639:trends*; D003419:Crisis Intervention; D003631:Day Care, Medical / Q000639:trends; D005544:Forecasting; D006208:Halfway Houses / Q000639:trends; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D012112:Residential Facilities / Q000639:trends; D012917:Social Adjustment; D014481:United States