Housing and Support Program (HASP): Final Evaluation Report

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Section 6 The ability of the program to maintain clinical functioning and provide
an acceptable quality of life for those supported by the program
6.5 Perceptions of future improvement
in clients — Case Managers versus
support workers
Case Managers and support workers were also asked
to consider the statement ‘the functioning of HASP
clients will continue to improve in the next six months’
(graph below).
Fig. 6.3 Change in client functioning —
past six months versus next six months
Percent
100
80
60
40
20
0
Legend
Strongly
agree
Sixty-six percent (66%) of Case Managers indicated
that the functioning of their HASP clients would continue
to improve in the future. In contrast, 81% of support
workers believed that the functioning of HASP clients
would continue to improve in the future.
Final Evaluation Report
Agree
Case
Managers
Neither
Support
workers
Disagree
Strongly
disagree
The support workers who felt that clients would
continue to improve suggested that clients had
someone to talk to, they received positive feedback
and encouragement from staff, and clients had their
own homes in the community. Receiving a HASP
package and the dedication of all staff/agencies
were also seen as likely to contribute to ongoing
improvement in HASP clients. Case Managers felt
that while the NGO sector would continue to contribute
to client functioning, gains in functioning would be
limited by the severity of disability in some clients.
6.6 Changes in Mental Health Act
(MHA) status
The status of clients under the Mental Health Act on
entry into HASP was accessed using data contained
in the CIMHA database. This information was then
compared with the status of clients at the point of
data collection (Mar–June 2010). Data for 76 clients
was available for both time-points. Over the study
period, restrictions placed on clients had been
signifi cantly relaxed (Chi sq. = 12.59, p = 0.002).
The proportion of clients on Involuntary Treatment
Orders (ITOs) decreased from 46% to 22%, while the
proportion of clients with voluntary status increased
from 43% to 70% (Table 6.2).
Table 6.2 Changes in mental health status
of HASP clients
MHA status on
Admission to HASP
(n=76)
Voluntary 33 (43.4%)
ITO 35 (46.1%)
Forensic 8 (10.5%)
MHA status
at end of June 2010
(n=76)
Voluntary 53 (69.7%)
ITO 17 (22.4%)
Forensic 6 (7.8%)