Defining the practice content of care management

Discusses issues in care management (CM) that impede decisions about how it should be implemented in social services departments. These issues are traced to their origins in North American concepts of case management and related to the major accounts in the UK. It is argued that the claim that CM is a tested model of practice is misleading and that social services departments have been asked to supply the practice content of CM in the absence of adequate research and development. Current work on implementing task-centered methods and concepts of partnership is reviewed to highlight some general principles that should underpin the development of CM. These principles provide a blend of values and techniques designed not to pursue a false consumerism, but to promote partnership and participation based on a fundamental respect for clients as citizens. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)