Disseminating the principles of a community support program.

Oregon's Living in the Community (LINC) program for chronic patients succeeds because of effective collaboration between a state hospital and a community treatment and rehabilitation program. The authors trace the development of the LINC program from its beginning in the early 1970s as a progressive retraining project for Eastern Oregon State Hospital's "back ward" patients. They describe principles derived from the original project, such as the provision of training in the patient's natural environment, adoption of these principles into the Oregon community support program, and dissemination of LINC projects to other parts of the state. The authors conclude that such model programs can be transferred to urban and rural settings when supported by a statewide planning effort.