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	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

I have begun a research project to test the effectiveness of day treatment of individuals with serious and persistent mental illness. The locations of the treatment centers are 2 small towns in rural western Minnesota. In reviewing the literature on day treatment and community support programs, I discovered that most in these studies were located in urban, highly populated areas.

The measure of success in these studies, usually the yearly rate of rehospitalization, were almost always several times higher than were the rates in the aforementioned rural Minnesota outcome study. What I have found is a direct correlation between low population density and low rates of rehospitalization of individuals with chronic mental illness. The rate of rehospitalization for the entire state of Minnesota in 1996 was 31% (Minnesota Department of Human Services, St Paul). All 3 counties that participated in the rural Minnesota study had lower population densities and lower . . . [Full Text of this Article]