Assertive Community Treatment for Persons with Severe Mental Disorders: A Controlled Treatment Outcome Study
Abstract
The present study evaluated the efficacy of an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program for the seriously mentally ill. Outcomes of the program were assessed at baseline and 12-month follow-up and were compared with that of a control group, which received standard community care. Thirty-six subjects with serious mental disorders participated in the study. Dependent measures included number of hospital admissions and hospital bed days per year, life skills, quality of life, and psychiatric symptoms. Results of 2 x 2 (treatment/control group x baseline / 12-month follow-up) repeated measures ANOVAs indicated that, after 1 year, both treatments lead to a significant reduction in hospital admissions and bed days, and to improvement in life skills. ACT subjects evidenced a greater decrease in psychiatric symptoms compared to control group subjects. In general, markedly more ACT subjects showed reliable clinical change in life skills, quality of life, and psychiatric symptoms than control subjects. Although the ACT did produce greater clinical change than standard case management, it did not produce statistically greater improvement across most domains of functioning in the short term.
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Six of the studies that examined hospital readmission yielded improved hospital readmission rates.
“In addition, only a minority of the studies reviewed herein (9/ 40) examined the extent to which the community-based program mitigated rates of hospital readmission, and six of these studies yielded improved hospital readmission rates (Hamernik and Pakenham 1999;Hugo et al. 2002;Lee et al. 2010;Australian Healthcare Associates 2012;Siskind et al. 2013;Dunt et al. 2017).”
From Effect of community mental health care programs in Australia: A systematic review (2020) · cites this paper as Hamernik and Pakenham 1999
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- Authors
- Hamernik, E., & Pakenham, K. I.
- Affiliations
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Pakenham, Kenneth I.
- ORCID
- Pakenham, Kenneth I.
- Venue
- Behaviour Change
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Published
- 1999-12-01
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 259-268
- ISSN
- 0813-4839 (ISSN-L)
- 2049-7768
- OpenAlex
- W2110699549
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 19
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2017: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 0.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Behaviour Change (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychiatric care and mental health services
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Schizophrenia research and treatment
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Homelessness and Social Issues
- Keywords
- assertive community treatment, severe mental illness, treatment efficacy, hospitalization, psychiatric symptoms, life skills, quality of life, community mental health services, case management, community-based care
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