Background Trials in community psychiatrymust balance rigourwith

Conclusions Case-loadreduction is not in itself enoughto reduce theneed for hospital care inpsychosis.Baseline patient characteristics (inparticular length of previous hospitalisation andrecruitment fromin-patientcare) have a significant influence and should be allowed for in powercalculations.Identifying the optimal clinicalprofile for patients likely to benefit fromintensivecasemanagementremains a pressingneed for further studies.