Improving the quality of community care for the chronically mentally disabled: the role of case management.
This article draws upon an extensive case management literature in order to integrate a number of key concepts and findings that must be considered by those responsible for the planning, administration, and provision of effective community care to the chronically mentally disabled. A discussion of the reasons for the current popularity of the case management concept within human services is followed by a detailed presentation of the objectives, ideology, functions, and structural elements that characterize case management systems. A series of practical problems and issues that must be addressed to effectively implement a case management system are then identified and analyzed. Finally, a set of recommendations for those developing case management systems is offered, and a number of important unanswered research questions about the delivery and impact of case management services are identified.
D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003688:Deinstitutionalization; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000458:organization & administration; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012106:Research; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000534:rehabilitation*