This grant will allow the state of Maine to test two well-specified case management models for serving persons with long-term psychiatric disabilities--the Broker Model and the Rehabilitation Model. Staff from a private non-profit agency will be randomly assigned to one of the two models. Case managers will receive extensive training conducted by the Center for Psychiatric Rehabilitation in Boston, Massachusetts. Each of five case managers will serve 17 or 18 clients using one of the two models. A third group of five case managers will continue to serve the standard agency caseload of 22 clients with traditional case management services. The third group will serve as a control group. Clients will be followed over the course of the grant, at baseline and six month intervals, using an extensive set of instruments that have been developed and tested in case management research, as well as a satisfaction questionnaire developed for this project. Client outcomes will include recidivism, housing, social, work, ,health and mental health, functioning and satisfaction indices. The project will provide the field with empirically tested case management models, as well as training materials, policies, procedures and record formats that can be used to meet the varied needs of persons with severe psychiatric disabilities.
