CAPS: An Automated Evaluation System

The Community Adjustment Profile System (CAPS) compares a patient's community adjustment prior to treatment with his adjustment after treatment, using a statewide computerized information system. Ten areas of community adjustment are measured by 60 items on a questionnaire completed by a community correspondent, usually a relative who lives with the patient. The data from the questionnaire are keypunched into a central computer and a CAPS report is printed out at the admitting hospital. Data obtained at the time of admission are compared with data obtained 90 days after the patient has left the hospital. The profile shows graphically whether a patient's outcome was better or worse than the statewide average. CAPS currently has an 80 percent return rate and 400 reports are processed monthly.