This volume investigates the efficacy and implementation of community-based care models for individuals living with chronic mental disabilities. Editors J. K. Wing and Rolf Olsen compile research and clinical observations to evaluate the transition from institutionalized psychiatric care to integrated community support systems. The text provides a framework for understanding the social, medical, and economic requirements necessary to sustain long-term mental health care outside of traditional hospital settings.

Experts recognize this work as a foundational text for understanding the shift toward deinstitutionalization in mid-20th-century psychiatry. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose and its historical significance in shaping contemporary social care policies.