Citation

Gibbons JS, Bow I, Butler J, Powell J. Br. J. Soc. Work 1979; 9(2): 203-215.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1979, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjsw.a057064

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Four hundred people who came to a hospital casualty department during one year after taking an overdose were randomly assigned to an experimental task-centred casework service or to the routine aftercare service. Half the sample was followed up four months after overdose and the remainder 18 months after it. Clients in the experimental group were more satisfied with the service they had received and showed more immediate improvement in social problems. A task-centred method (agreement on target problems, work on tasks and adherence to a time-limit) proved feasible in about half the experimental cases.