Validity of case manager reports of clients' functioning in the community: independent living, income, employment, family contact, and problem behaviors

Abstract

Validity of case manager reports of client functioning in the community was assessed by examining the correspondence between case manager reports and client reports of several widely-used indicators of client well-being, including independent living, income, employment, family contact, and problem behaviors. Effects of how well case managers knew their clients and of using telephone interviews vs. self-administered questionnaires to gather case manager data were also investigated. Data were gathered from 6 case managers and 55 of their seriously mentally ill clients in a rural Wisconsin Community Support Program. Indicators of independent living and employment displayed reasonably good agreement and support the use of case manager reports in research. Indicators of income and problem behaviors produced lower levels of client-case manager agreement at least in part because client reports proved an inadequate criterion for these measures.