A social interaction program for chronic psychiatric patients living in a community residence.

A psychiatric center in Brooklyn provided a socialization program in a community residence for adults discharged from state hospitals and made a study of the program's outcome. Residents on two floors of the home, the experimental group, received an enriched treatment program; those on the other four floors, the control group, received a minimum of therapeutic intervention. A comparison of residents' ratings on assessment scales made early in the program and after seven months of operation showed that residents on all floors improved on measures of socialization, men improved more than women, and residents over 65 years of age improved the least. Residents in the experimental group did not improve much more than those in the control group. Costs for the experimental group, including room and board, were $16.59 a day per resident. Costs for the control group were $15.61 a day per resident.