Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T16:57:19.621Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of the community environment on chronic psychiatric patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Jill M. Goldstein  and
Carol L. M. Caton
Jill M. Goldstein*
Affiliation:
New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA
Carol L. M. Caton
Affiliation:
New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Ms Jill Goldstein, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Box 102, 722 West 168th Street, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The question of where to place the chronically mentally disabled in the community is essential in this era of brief hospitalization practices. This report examines the effects of the social conditions of the environment on the length of stay in the community for a sample of 119 multiple admission schizophrenics in New York City. Patients returned to a variety of family and non-family living arrangements in poor and depressed areas of the city. The relationship between characteristics of the living arrangements and the patients' clinical functioning and rate of rehospitalization was examined. The findings show that there is no significant differential effect of the type of living arrangement on rehospitalization or clinical functioning, and that these factors did not contribute significantly to the prediction of successful adjustment. However, the socio-emotional characteristics of the environment - i.e. social support and interpersonal stress - together are stronger predictors of outcome than are available out-patient treatment programmes. The findings emphasize the importance of environmental variables as factors independent of the effect of treatment on rehospitalization.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , February 1983 , pp. 193 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Blumenthal, R., Kreisman, D. & O'Connor, P. (1982). Return to the family and its consequence for rehospitalization among recently discharged mental patients. Psychological Medicine 12, 141–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, G. W., Birley, J. L. T. & Wing, J. K. (1972). Influence of family life on the course of schizophrenic disorders: A replication. British Journal of Psychiatry 121, 241–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Caton, C. & Koh, S. P. (1983). Rehospitalization in chronic schizophrenia. II. Time in hospital as a function of treatment. the social environment, and the system of care. New York State Psychiatric Institute: New York.Google Scholar
Caton, C., Muller, C. & Spitzer, R. (1981). The Community Care Schedule. New York State Psychiatric Institute: New York.Google Scholar
Caton, C.Bender, R., Goldstein, J. & Serrano, O. (1983). The role of discharge planning in community treatment of the chronically mentally ill. I. The process of discharge planning in the hospital setting. New York State Psychiatric Institute: New York.Google Scholar
Cohen, C. I. & Sokolovsky, J. (1979). Health-seeking behavior and social networks of the aged living in single room occupancy hotels. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 27 (6), 270–277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, C. I., Sichel, W. E. & Berger, D. (1977). The use of mid Manhattan hotel as a support system. Community Mental Health Journal 12(1), 76–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eckert, J. K. (1979). Urban renewal and redevelopment: high risk for the marginally subsistent elderly. The Gerontologist 19 (5), 496–602.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Endicott, J. & Spitzer, R. (1972). What, another rating scale? The Psychiatric Evaluation Form. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 164 (2), 88–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Falloon, I. R. H., Boyd, J. L., McGill, C. W., Strang, J. S. & Moss, H. B. (1981). Family management training in the community care of schizophrenia. In New Developments in Interventions with Families of Schizophrenics (ed. Goldstein, M. J.), pp. 61–78. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.Google Scholar
Felton, B., Lehman, S., Adler, A. & Burgio, M. (1977). Social supports and life satisfaction among old and young SRO hotel tenants.Paper presented at American Gerontological Society Meeting,November, 1977.Google Scholar
Garrison, V. (1978). Social support systems of schizophrenic and nonschizophrenic Puerto Rican migrant women in New York City. Schizophrenia Bulletin 4, 561–596.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hammer, M. (1964). Influence of small social networks as factors on mental hospital admission. Human Organization 22, 243–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollingshead, A. (1957). Two Factor Index of Social Position (Part of Codebook). Yale University Press: New Haven.Google Scholar
Kasl, S. (1974). Effects of housing on mental and physical health. Man-Environment Systems 4, 207–226.Google Scholar
Leff, J., Kuipers, L., Berkowitz, R., Eberlein-Vries, R. & Sturgeon, D. (1982). A controlled trial of social intervention in the families of schizophrenic patients. British Journal of Psychiatry 141, 121–134.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaughn, C. & Leff, J. (1976). The influence of family and social factors on the course of psychotic illness. British Journal of Psychiatry 129, 125–137.CrossRefGoogle Scholar