Work and social support: a comparison of consumers who have achieved stability in ACT and clubhouse programs

A current debate in the field is whether consumers, who have achieved stability in Assertive Community Treatment programs, can be transferred to less intensive services. To bring some data to bear on this question, this study compared consumers and members, who have achieved stability, in either an Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) or a clubhouse program, on domains of vocational activity, social relationships/loneliness and community integration. The 51 stable clients from the two programs who were interviewed, reported similar vocational activity, similar experiences with social relationships and social networks, and similar community integration. Clients in both groups were less lonely than previously reported in the literature. Study results indicate, that for those clients who have achieved stability, there are sufficient similarities between consumers in the two programs, to suggest a potential for movement from more to less intensive programs with less disruption than previously assumed possible.