OBJETIVE: To carry through a review of studies on PACT and case management to verify if the results demonstrate more favorable outcomes when such models are implemented in the the community care system for persons with serious and persistent mental illness. METHODS: the articles - published from 1985 to 2005 - were collected in two stages: the first one, from the PubMed database, with key-words mental health, community care, services evaluation and selection of the articles with PACT and Case Management as subjects and the second one, from the journal Psychiatric Services database, with key-words assertive community treatment, PACT and case management. Articles that analyzed exclusive services for children, aged and patients with substance abuse as single diagnosis; approached only the costs of the intervention and related exclusively hospital-based services were not considered. RESULTS: From the reading of the 73 selected articles, the authors had described 8 categories in which the articles had been gathered. One article could belong to more than one category. CONCLUSIONS: The PACT and case management are important and admittedly more efficient strategies, when compared with other models of care, in bringing favorable evolutions for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness.
Case management; community mental health services; deinstitutionalization
