A client outcome planning model for assessing psychiatric rehabilitation interventions

Skill training, drug therapy, and community support strategies are the three primary intervention techniques used by practitioners attempting to rehabilitate severely psychiatrically disabled clients. The present article describes a comprehensive client outcome planning model that encompasses both the intended and unintended effects of an intervention, and that extends beyond such traditional outcome measures as recidivism, clinical relapse, and employment. In addition, data collection strategies and instruments capable of measuring a broad range of possible outcomes are described. A comprehensive model has the advantage of encouraging researchers to consider, during the process of research design, the specific outcomes that will and will not be effected by an intervention. Furthermore, such a model discriminates between process and outcome variables, limits the scope of the implications derived from the research data, and encourages the researcher to assess both the positive and negative effects of the rehabilitation intervention.