No abstract

No abstract

Beginning in 1992, the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research and the National Institute of Mental Health funded the Schizophrenia Patient Outcomes Research Team (PORT) to develop and disseminate recommendations for the treatment of schizophrenia based on existing scientific evidence. These Treatment Recommendations, presented here in final form for the first time, are based on exhaustive reviews of the treatment outcomes literature (previously published in Schizophrenia Bulletin, Vol. 21, No. 4, 1995) and focus on those treatments for which there is substantial evidence of efficacy. The recommendations address antipsychotic agents, adjunctive pharmacotherapies, electroconvulsive therapy, psychological interventions, family interventions, vocational rehabilitation, and assertive community treatment/intensive case management. Support for each recommendation is referenced to the previous PORT literature reviews, and the recommendations are rated according to the level of supporting evidence. The PORT Treatment Recommendations provide a basis for moving toward "evidence-based" practice for schizophrenia and identify both the strengths and limitations in our current knowledge base.

Supported employment for people with severe mental illness is an evidence-based practice, based on converging findings from eight randomized controlled trials and three quasi-experimental studies. The critical ingredients of supported employment have been well described, and a fidelity scale differentiates supported employment programs from other types of vocational services. The effectiveness of supported employment appears to be generalizable across a broad range of client characteristics and community settings. More research is needed on long-term outcomes and on cost-effectiveness. Access to supported employment programs remains a problem, despite their increasing use throughout the United States. The authors discuss barriers to implementation and strategies for overcoming them based on successful experiences in several states.