title: Outcome of discharged psychiatric patients after short inpatient treatment: an Italian collaborative study.
abstract: This paper presents the results of an Italian multicentre study on the 6-month outcome of psychiatric patients discharged after short-term in-patient treatment from 21 general hospital psychiatric units. Two outcome measures were used: relapses (defined as readmissions for psychiatric treatment or suicide) and community tenure. The data showed, on average, a fairly high relapse rate (43% in 6 months) combined with a good community tenure. The findings are discussed in the light of the heterogeneity in patterns of care provision observed in Italian psychiatric services after the changes introduced by the 1978 Mental Health Act, reported in a previous paper.
authors.affiliation: Centro Psicosociale, Unità Operativa di Psichiatria Policlinico II, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barbato
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Terzian
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saraceno
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Luca
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tognoni
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010351:Patient Discharge; D016896:Treatment Outcome