Patients' revisions of their beliefs about the need for hospitalization.
OBJECTIVE
An influential rationale for involuntary hospitalization is that prospective patients who refuse hospitalization at the time it is offered are likely to change their belief about the necessity of hospitalization after receiving hospital treatment. The authors examine how patients changed their evaluations of psychiatric hospitalization following hospital treatment.


METHODS
The authors studied 433 patients who were interviewed about their hospitalization within 2 days of their admission to a psychiatric hospital; 267 of these patients were reinterviewed 4-8 weeks following discharge.


RESULTS
When reinterviewed at follow-up, 33 (52%) of 64 patients who said at admission that they did not need hospitalization said that, in retrospect, they believed they had needed it. Only 9 (5%) of 198 patients who said at admission that they needed hospitalization shifted to saying that they had not needed it.


CONCLUSIONS
Many of the patients who initially judged that they did not need hospitalization revised their belief after hospital discharge and reported that they had needed hospital treatment. However, perceptions of coercion were stable from admission to follow-up, and patients' attitudes toward hospitalization did not become more positive. Coerced patients did not appear to be grateful for the experience of hospitalization, even if they later concluded that they had needed it.
Gardner
W
W
Department of Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA 15213, USA. gardnerwp@msx.upmc.edu
Lidz
C W
CW
Hoge
S K
SK
Monahan
J
J
Eisenberg
M M
MM
Bennett
N S
NS
Mulvey
E P
EP
Roth
L H
LH
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D010054:Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003068:Coercion; D003134:Commitment of Persons with Psychiatric Disorders; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care; D010343:Patient Admission; D010351:Patient Discharge; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016312:Treatment Refusal