From deinstitutionalization to recovery-oriented assertive community treatment in Hong Kong: What we have achieved.

This paper explored the effectiveness of Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) for severely ill mental patients during a period of rapid deinstitutionalization in Hong Kong. We employed a flanking historical control design. The treatment group comprised 70 participants with 3 or more admissions to psychiatric hospitals within the preceding 12 months, and received ACT.

Effectiveness of assertive community treatment in Hong Kong among patients with frequent hospital admissions.

Objective: This study examined the effectiveness of assertive community treatment (ACT) for a group of psychiatric patients in Hong Kong with frequent hospital admissions.

Methods: The study compared hospitalization and other outcomes among participants of a two-year ACT intervention and a control group who had received treatment as usual two years earlier. The patients were Chinese adult psychiatric patients who had three or more admissions in the 12 months before the study.