Social workers are a dominant presence in public mental health, and many serve as intensive case managers. This critical review of randomized field trials of intensive case management for individuals with serious and persistent mental illness finds only qualified support for the efficacy of intensive case management. This article reviews published trials since the inception of the CSS initiative. Inadequate sample sizes by design and attrition, vaguely delimited conceptual frameworks, and inconclusive analysis strategies are faulted for the inconclusiveness of the research to date. Directions for correcting these weaknesses in case management research and in random trials of social work practice research in general are discussed.
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