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30 April 2012, 15:29

Residential support services for adults with chronic mental illness have been developed to accommodate former patients of inpatient psychiatric treatment facilities and other individuals who require these services in order to achieve increased stability.  Residential programs have emerged largely in response to a “deinstitutionalization” movement whereby the widespread closure of state-operated treatment facilities have returned many former patients to their communities of origin without sufficient support services.  These programs have often been deployed without an evidentiary basis of support to inform their approach to service delivery.

            Previous investigations have explored the attributes of residential placements that facilitate “successful” outcomes.  Many investigations have examined these programs’ role in promoting residents’ stability and community tenure, but few have examined the role of residential support programs from the perspectives of various stakeholders or the manner in which demographic characteristics of adults with mental illness mediate residential outcomes.

            This investigation sought to enhance the evidentiary basis for service delivery through consultations with various stakeholders and an examination of characteristics of recipients’ that mediate their attitudes and preferences concerning residential support services.  Data obtained via survey instruments and a focus group discussion suggest subjects generally preferred residential accommodations that promoted recipients’ stability and self-sufficiency, but they differed in their assessments of those attributes of residential support services that are most determinative of recipients’ success.  Moreover, certain demographic factors appear to mediate recipients’ professed attitudes and preferences concerning residential services.  Future investigations into housing accommodations for adults with mental illness should consider the manner in which the disparate views of key stakeholders and heterogeneous characteristics of the target population may inform a more coordinated and nuanced approach to service delivery.