Randomized controlled trial of illness management and recovery in multiple-unit supportive housing.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effects of the illness management and recovery program on mental illness and functional outcomes of persons with serious mental illness who were receiving supportive housing services.

METHODS: A randomized controlled trial was conducted with 104 persons with serious mental illness who were assigned either to illness management classes for six months or to a waitlist control group, with follow-up assessments conducted six months posttreatment. Assessments included self-reports, nonblinded clinical ratings, and blinded interview ratings and included the domains of illness management, symptoms, psychosocial functioning, hospitalizations, and substance abuse and dependence.

RESULTS: Participants assigned to the program showed significantly greater improvements than the control group in self-reported and clinician ratings of illness management, interview-based ratings of symptoms on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and interview-based ratings of psychosocial functioning on the abbreviated Quality of Life Scale. Participants in both groups improved in self-ratings of symptom distress and had low rates of hospitalization and substance abuse over the course of the study.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that the program was effective at improving illness management and functional outcomes for persons with serious mental illness who were receiving supportive housing services.