The effect of Assertive Community Treatment in Japan.

Ito J, Oshima I, Nishio M, Sono T, Suzuki Y, Horiuchi K, Niekawa N, Ogawa M, Setoya Y, Hisanaga F, Kouda M, Tsukada K. The effect of Assertive Community Treatment in Japan. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) program in a Japanese mental health service setting. This study was a randomized controlled trial. ACT was the intervention condition ( n = 59), and the usual hospital-based rehabilitation program was the control condition ( n = 59). Outcome indicators include in-patient days, psychiatric symptoms, social functioning, quality of life, and client satisfaction. The follow-up period was 12 months after the intervention. We found a significant reduction of in-patient days for the ACT group demonstrated by t-test ( t = 2.33, P = 0.02). However, the results of did not show significant differences for in-patient days between the two groups ( F = 1.85, P = 0.18). The depression score for Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale for the ACT group was significantly lower than the control group at the 12-month follow-up assessment ( F = 5.57, P = 0.03). According to the t-test, the ACT group had a higher client satisfaction than the control group ( t = 2.08, P = 0.05). We concluded that ACT had a positive influence, as evidenced by a reduction of in-patient days, lower depressive symptoms, and higher client satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]