Community support programs: program evaluation and public policy.

The plight of chronic psychiatric patients in the community has led to a major federal effort to resolve fragmented and disorganized care. The Community Support Programs (CSPs) recently funded by NIMH offer the promise of reducing these difficulties by creating comprehensive human service systems at the local and state levels. However, the author points out that these demonstration projects should be evaluated lest they continue to operate on the basis of rhetoric rather than fact. He presents an evaluation framework whereby indexes pertinent to each program goal of the CSPs can be measured and the resulting data used for public policy purposes.