Are patients improving during and after a psychiatric hospitalisation? Continuity of care outcomes of compulsory and voluntary admissions to an Italian psychiatric ward.

Abstract

Background: To compare the characteristics of compulsory admissions (CAs) and voluntary admissions (VAs) in a General Hospital Psychiatric Unit (GHPU), and to assess whether CA and VA patients’ outcomes improved during hospitalisation and followup in mental health services (MHS) based on community continuity of care.Design and methods: Observational longitudinal study comparing 19 CAs and 83 VAs consecutively admitted to GHPU of Udine, Italy, and followed-up for six-months by MHS. Five psychometric scales assessed psychosocial and clinical characteristics for each patient at admission (T0), discharge (T1) and follow-up (T2). Statistical analyses were performed using: multivariate logistic regression for comparing CA and VA; Friedman χ2 and Mann-Whitney tests for outcomes’ improvement.Results: Being hospitalised for a psychotic crisis was the most significant predictor of CA (OR = 5.07). An outcomes’ improvement was observed from T0 to T1 in almost all psychometric tests, while from T1 to T2 only for PSP-A (useful social activities), CGI-S (severity of illness) and CGI-EI (drug’s efficacy related to side effects). CA was associated to lower performances in all scales at T0, in GAF and CGI-S at T1, while no difference with VA was observed at T2.Conclusions: CA and VA patients improved to a same extent during hospitalisation and follow-up, particularly in relation to social functioning. This fosters the hypothesis that communitybased MHS using a longitudinal continuity of care model might achieve recovery in a long-term perspective. Future research may benefit by considering patients’ subjective experiences and assessing long-term improvement in those who received personcentred interventions. Significance for public health This study demonstrates that patients voluntarily or involuntarily admitted to an inpatient psychiatric service improve to a same extent during hospitalisation, and this improvement is maintained during a six-month follow-up by outpatient mental health services. Moreover, the greatest improvement after discharge from hospital is observed in social functioning. To our knowledge, this is also the first study analysing psychiatric patients’ outcomes in a longitudinal continuity of care model, allowing preliminary scientific evidences valuable for mental health policy. The study also shed a light on the hypothesis that a mental health system strongly community-based and applying a whole-system continuity of care approach might achieve recovery in a long-term perspective, particularly with regard to psychosocial outcomes in more severely-ill patients.