Facilitating the integration of persons with psychiatric disabilities is an important goal of community programs. In addition to limitations such as inadequate housing, poverty, and unemployment, a common barrier to community adjustment identified by people with psychiatric disabilities is their perception of being stigmatized. This study examined the relationships between perceived stigma and community integration in 95 clients of assertive community treatment (ACT) teams, using sequential multiple regression procedures. Findings indicate that despite their physical presence in the community and the intensive support they receive, ACT clients believe other community members will reject them. Moreover, this perception appears to interfere with their sense of belonging, particularly among those who also perceive less social support and who have greater psychosocial skill deficits. In the context of the present study, global self-esteem did not mediate this relationship. In addition to community focused antistigma campaigns, stigma-related issues should also be addressed with ACT clients themselves.

The concept of recovery has gained increasing attention and many mental health systems have taken steps to move towards more recovery oriented practice and service structures. This article represents a description of current recovery-oriented programs in participating countries including recovery measurement tools. Although there is growing acceptance that recovery needs to be one of the key domains of quality in mental health care, the implementation and delivery of recovery oriented services and corresponding evaluation strategies as an integral part of mental health care have been lacking.

A mailed survey appears to be an efficient and nonintrusive way to collect satisfaction data anonymously from persons with serious mental illness who are clients of an assertive community treatment team. The results highlight areas of need that the team can address.

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Three aspects of community integration (i.e., physical, social, and psychological integration) were examined in relation to subjective well-being (SWB) in a sample of 92 persons with psychiatric disabilities receiving services from assertive community treatment (ACT) teams. Although two of the integration variables, namely physical and psychological integration, were related to SWB at the bivariate level, these relationships were not maintained following sequential multiple regression analysis. Findings support previously established relationships between SWB and psychiatric symptoms and between SWB and self-esteem. Results also emphasize the importance of client perceptions of social support that may be attributable, in part, to ACT services.