The Client Interaction Scale. A method for assessing community support programs for persons with chronic mental illness.

The Client Interaction Scale (CIS) is a brief assessment tool for measuring client integration into the client-to-client interactive milieu in Community Support Programs (CSPs) for persons with chronic mental illness. Using a sample of 95 clients from three different CSPs, the scale shows excellent inter-item reliability. A factor analysis indicates that it measures the clients' level of integration on unique affective and instrumental dimensions. The scale also discriminates among environments known to differ on their interactive qualities. Its application to the evaluation of CSPs and other program environments is discussed.