Psychosocial rehabilitation program characteristics in urban and rural areas

Forty-eight clubhouse-type psychosocial rehabilitation programs were sampled in order to examine program characteristics that distinguished urban from rural programs. MANOVA revealed that rural clubhouses were significantly smaller, had more limited accessibility, less specialized staff, and were somewhat more likely to serve a heterogeneous client population. These results are discussed in terms of Barker and Gump's (1964) "manning" theory in larger and smaller behavior settings. Limitations include a lack of data on consumer outcomes, potential bias owing to self-report by program staff, small sample size, and a dichotomous designation of urban and rural based on population density.