Basic concepts in case management for mental health

Abstract

A systematical review was carried in January 2009, in the Virtual Health Library (VHL), using the term "management of cases in mental health nursing" and in the University of São Paulo database, with the expression "case management in mental health". The selection resulted in twelve articles and one doctoral dissertation, allowing for the construction of the following topics: characteristics of the management of cases and cases' manager, practice of case management and nurses and the evaluation of case management results. This strategy should be discussed in psychiatric nursing, to contribute to deinstitutionalization and psychosocial rehabilitation.