Abstract:
This study examined how incidence of hospitalization and length of hospital stay for chronically mentally ill adults were affected by type of outpatient mental health services and inconsistency of treatment. The participants were chronically mentally ill adult Kansas residents who had been seen in outpatient services at a community mental health center from 1992 to 1993. The participants were identified by statistical quarterly reports that had been completed by the mental health center professionals and were assigned to one of three groups, each consisting of 20 participants: a) clients who had been seen routinely in medication clinic for medication monitoring and prescription renewal by the agency's psychiatrist, b) clients who had received medication clinic services in combination with case management services on a regularly scheduled basis from 1 of 12 case managers, and c) clients who had been inconsistent with their treatment. Following group assignment, data from the quarterly reports regarding incidence of hospitalization and length of hospital stay were collected and analyzed by an analysis of variance (ANDVA) for each variable. There were no significant effects for incidence of hospitalization or length of hospital stay for the three groups at this mental health center in Kansas. These results indicate that for these particular outpatients, type of mental health service or inconsistency with treatment had no impact upon incidence of hospitalization or length of hospital stay.
