Keywords
Community rehabilitation
Holistic management
Randomized controlled trial
Social functioning
Prevention of relapse
Submitted : 2026-04-20
Accepted : 2026-05-05
Published : 2026-05-20
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the clinical efficacy, improvement in social functioning, prevention of relapse, and health economic value of a comprehensive community-based rehabilitation service model in the holistic management of patients with severe mental disorders, providing empirical evidence for the standardized promotion of community rehabilitation. Methods: A parallel-group randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted, involving 200 patients with severe mental disorders in a stable phase. They were randomly assigned at a 1:1 ratio to an intervention group (comprehensive community rehabilitation, n = 100) and a control group (routine community management, n = 100), with continuous intervention for 12 months. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP) were used as primary outcome measures to compare differences in symptom improvement, social functioning, relapse rate, medication adherence, hospitalization status, and medical expenses between the two groups. Results: After 12 months of intervention, the PANSS total score in the intervention group (43.0 ± 6.8) was significantly lower than that in the control group (47.9 ± 7.5), while the PSP score (66.0 ± 8.0) was significantly higher than that in the control group (60.8 ± 7.3), with statistically significant differences (p < 0.001). The relapse rate in the intervention group (10.0%) was significantly lower than that in the control group (22.0%), while the medication adherence rate (83.0%) was significantly higher than that in the control group (68.0%). The hospitalization rate, number of hospitalization days, and annual total medical expenses were all significantly lower in the intervention group than in the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The comprehensive community-based rehabilitation service model can effectively improve psychiatric symptoms and social functioning in patients with severe mental disorders, reduce the risk of relapse and hospitalization, and save medical costs. It represents an efficient and promotable core intervention strategy for the holistic management of severe mental disorders.
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