Discharge and Readmission Among Mental Hospital Patients

Abstract

Purpose and Method The strain currently being placed upon mental hospital facilities by ever-increasing numbers of first admissions¹accentuates the need for a full understanding of the conditions most conducive to the early and permanent discharge of these patients. In the present study one approach to the fulfilment of that need was explored. To assess the influence of certain variables upon probabilities of discharge and readmission, a cohort of mental hospital patients was followed in retrospect for 10 years after first admission. The cohort was a stratified random sample of 240 patients, drawn from 831 patients first admitted to the Ontario Hospital, London, during the years 1940 to 1942. The sample was stratified by four variables— age (ages 15-44, 45-64, 65+), sex (male, female), marital status (married, not married), and environment (rural, urban). Ten patients, randomly selected from those of the 831 who were applicable, comprised each of 24