Family Care

Eighty-five sponsors in a Veterans Administration family care program were interviewed for the purpose of ascertaining whether or not the social environment provided a viable alternative to institutional living for the chronic mentally ill. Also, the impact of various descriptive factors of the setting on the social characteristics in the home was estimated. A level of restrictiveness scale (areas in which the freedom of the residents is restricted) and a level of deviation from normative living scale (areas in which residents are excluded from family activities) were utilized to measure the social characteristics of the family care environment. A high degree of each of these factors has been linked with a custodial care type of arrangement and a low degree of these dimensions has been associated' with a rehabilitative type of dwelling. Fifteen per cent of the homes scored above 80% on the level of restrictiveness and only 5% of the residences fell into the same category on the level of deviation from normative living (maximum score 100%), indicating that only a small minority of homes could be placed in a custodial care type category in relation to each of these dimensions. Moreov