Costs and Benefits of Day Treatment With Community Care for Schizophrenic Patients

Abstract

The feasibility of day treatment with community care for schizophrenic patients was tested by means of a longitudinal randomized experiment with 34 experimentals and 16 controls: 38 percent could be treated satisfactorily in a day program that included a very active ambulatory service. The new approach did not improve prognosis with respect to psychiatric symptomatology, social role disabilities, or number of read-missions during the first year of followup. Total cost of treatment was less for day-treatment patients than for ordinary clinical patients.