title: Evaluation of a social work service for self-poisoning patients.
abstract: Four hundred patients aged at least 17 who came to Casualty in one year after deliberately poisoning themselves were randomly assigned between an Experimental social work service (task-centered casework) and a Control (routine) follow-up service. 139 patients were excluded from the trial, most of whom were already in continuing psychiatric treatment. After one year there was no difference in the proportions of E and C patients who repeated self-poisoning (about 14 per cent), but significantly more of the excluded group had repeated (36 per cent). A random half of the trial patients were re-interviewed four months after admission. Both E and C groups had improved to a significant extent on measures of depressed mood and of social problems. E patients showed more change in social problems and were more satisfied with the service they had received.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D006801:Humans; D011041:Poisoning / Q000517:prevention & control*; D012008:Recurrence; D012949:Social Work, Psychiatric / Q000379:methods*; D013406:Suicide, Attempted / Q000517:prevention & control*