Demographic and clinical characteristics of consumers who transition from assertive community treatment to less intensive services

ABSTRACT

Many Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) teams transition consumers to less intensive services as the teams struggle to provide services for new clients, which is a concerning capacity-and-demand issue in many communities. However, evidence regarding such transitions is limited. The purpose of this study was to identify demographic characteristics and outcomes of consumers who were transitioned from ACT. A retrospective cohort design was used and included 671 individuals with serious mental illnesses who received ACT services. Bivariate and multivariate models were used to examine factors associated with transition from ACT. Consumers who transitioned were significantly more likely to have a diagnosis of mood disorders versus schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorders and individuals with history of prior incarceration were also significantly more likely to transition as compared to individuals with no such histories. Future research will benefit from further exploration of the factors influencing transition from ACT.

KEYWORDS:

• Assertive community treatment
• community transition
• serious mental illness
• incarceration

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by The Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati and the Ohio Department of Mental Health.