Does community residence mean more community contact for people with severe, long-term psychiatric disabilities?

The focus of the debate over hospital versus community care for those with severe and enduring mental health problems has shifted somewhat towards ensuring the quality of care provided by services regardless of their location. One factor that is generally assumed to be an important indicator of quality of care is the opportunity for community contact that users of a residential service have. This is illustrated by its inclusion in most instruments designed to assess quality of care in psychiatric services. The present study set out to examine the amount of community contact made by residents of three units of a London psychiatric rehabilitation service. Level of community contact was indeed found to be unrelated to the location of these facilities on a hospital site or in the community. However, interesting differences did emerge across units in the type of community contact made by residents and in the identity of residents' companions on community trips.