Assertive community treatment in people with severe mental disorder

Abstract

Introduction: people with severe mental disorder have extensive needs that conventional treatment is limited in resolving satisfactorily. At the end of the 1970s, the assertive community treatment (ACT) model emerged, shifting healthcare towards community services that would allow a reduction in hospital admissions and an improvement in quality of life. Objectives: to identify the efficacy of ACT in the provision of care and to verify whether it reduces hospital readmissions and improves quality of life, socio-occupational functioning and patient satisfaction. Methodology: a review of the scientific literature is carried out in multiple databases after the definition of the selection criteria. The data of interest are then analysed and extracted from the finally chosen documents. Results: a total of 23 documents are obtained, showing significant differences in favour of ACT in the outcome measures: hospital readmissions, satisfaction, quality of life and symptoms. Conclusions: although great disparity is obtained and the outcome measures are influenced by the effect of a series of variables, the effectiveness of the programme in the provision of care that guarantees community and comprehensive care is evident.