Background: Since the implementation of the legislation of the Rehabilitation of the Mentally Disabled in the Community Law a decade ago, an increasing number of people have been receiving the psychiatric rehabilitation 'basket of service', yet the impact of these services has barely been studied. The purpose of the present study is to examine whether people with severe mental illness in Israel who consume psychiatric rehabilitation services report better outcomes than people with severe mental illness who are eligible and have applied for psychiatric rehabilitation services but have not yet utilized them.
Method: 1,191 persons with severe mental illness (595 psychiatric rehabilitation service users and 596 nonusers) completed face-to-face interviews. Differences in quality of life, general satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms between psychiatric rehabilitation service users and non-users were examined using Analysis of Covariance controlling for the potential confounding effects of age and marital status.
Results: Adjusted comparisons of quality of life, general satisfaction and psychiatric symptoms revealed that psychiatric rehabilitation service users had better outcomes than non-users: they reported better quality of life and greater satisfaction alongside fewer psychiatric symptoms. The most striking difference between the groups was found in the domain of employment and income, with non-psychiatric rehabilitation service users scoring 0.9 effect sizes below psychiatric rehabilitation service users.
Conclusion: The current study, based on a relatively large sample, provides support for the effectiveness of the psychiatric rehabilitation 'basket of services'. Future studies including clinicians ratings of more objective aspects of functioning may provide a broader picture of the association between psychiatric rehabilitation service utilization and outcome.