Date of Award

1-1-2012

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Department

Psychology

Sub-Department

Clinical-Community Psychology

First Advisor

Bret Kloos

Second Advisor

Robert Heckel

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between client characteristics and service use variables and client functioning outcomes for adults with serious mental illness living in South Carolina. These adults are receiving services from the South Carolina Department of Mental Health via a program called Towards Local Care (TLC), an adaptation of assertive community treatment (ACT). This investigation proposed two levels of characteristics rarely examined in the literature yet often posited as having the potential to contribute to clinical, social, and personal functioning outcomes for clients in ACT or ACT-like programs, such as TLC. Proposed client characteristics include demographics and mental health characteristics. Proposed service use characteristics include patterns of service use and client perceptions of services received. Hypotheses were tested using multiple regression. Significant relationships were found amongst all blocks of analyses except demographics. Both positive and negative effects were found for mental health characteristics in predicting clinical and personal functioning. Positive effects were found for service use patterns predicting clinical and personal functioning, and positive effects were also found for service perceptions in predicting social functioning. Results can inform those implementing services as part of SC-DMH's ACT-like program known as Towards Local Care.

Rights

© 2012, Jacquelyn M. McDaniel

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