title: How many forensic assertive community treatment teams do we need?
abstract: Despite the growing interest in forensic assertive community treatment (FACT), there is no standardized definition of FACT eligibility and no guidelines for how many FACT teams communities may need. In this brief report a definition for FACT eligibility is proposed-severe and persistent mental illness and three jail detentions in a one-year period-and modeled by using 5.5 years of administrative data (July 1, 1993, through December 31, 1998) from a large, urban county in the western United States. Findings suggest that large, urban communities should develop enough FACT teams to serve approximately 44% of their populations of persons with severe mental illness, or roughly .05% of their adult populations. Developing standardized eligibility criteria for FACT is an important first step toward developing its evidence base.
authors.affiliation: Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research and the School of Social Work, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 725 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., CB 7590, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA. cuddeback@mail.schsr.unc.edu
authors.forename: Gary S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Cuddeback
authors.forename: Joseph P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Morrissey
authors.forename: Karen J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Cusack
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018672:Community Health Planning; D003156:Community Mental Health Services / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D003415:Crime / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005555:Forensic Psychiatry / Q000379:methods* / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020380:Needs Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011634:Public Health / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013808:Therapeutic Community; D014481:United States; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000600:supply & distribution; D035862:Vulnerable Populations / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data