Residential and day hospital : alternatives in psychiatric treatment
Date
1972
Authors
Bass, Jeretta Faye
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Abstract
A survey of residential and day psychiatric hospital literature was undertaken to determine whether day hospitals are alternatives to residential hospitals. The literature was approached utilizing a functional frame of reference. The following four questions were asked:
1. Are the functions of the day hospital as described in the literature the same as those attributed to the
residential hospital?
2. If the functions are the same for both hospital types, are they performed in the same manner?
3. Are the characteristics of the patient populations the same for both hospital types?
4. Is there a difference in the effectiveness of the two hospital types?
The conclusions were reached that the two types of hospitals had the same functions but that these functions were fulfilled differently and were of different degrees of importance; that the patient populations while overlapping were not the same; that, as a whole, the effectiveness of the two types of hospitals as measured by rates of patient improvement did not differ. In the instances that differences in effectiveness did appear, there were questions as to whether or not the patient populations had been controlled by the researchers. It was also concluded that if the type of deviance (i.e., the characteristics of the patient population) was held constant, the two hospitals are not interchangeable or alternatives; but, if the types of deviance are placed under a more general category (e.g., mental illness), the two types of hospitals become two examples of a type of institution for the control of that general deviance (mental illness) in society.