Predicting the community performance of vocational rehabilitation clients

The outcome for 70 chronic psychiatric patients who had completed a clerical training program at a state hospital rehabilitation center was examined after they had spent some time in the community. Successful completion of the program was found to be the strongest predictor of successful vocational functioning in the community. The only demographic variables associated with this posthospital performance were race, marital status, and living arrangements. Patients who were black, who were or had been married, or who did not live with their parents were more likely to perform at a high level in the community. It is suspected, however, that race was predictive of outcome only because it was highly correlated with living arrangements.