Many patients discharged to structured community residential settings seem to prefer them to the state hospital, are able to graduate to independent settings, and show improvement in important dimensions of functioning after several years in the community. Other dimensions seem resistant to change despite the structure and support afforded by residential settings.

Few studies of deinstitutionalized patients in the community have focused on the quality of the patients' lives. The authors interviewed 31 patients discharged from a state hospital to community residences and 10 patients who remained in the hospital. Patients were evaluated at three time intervals on eight outcome indexes. Eight months after the patients left the hospital they reported significant positive changes in the quality of their lives. None of the patients were rehospitalized during the study period.