Maintenance in the Community: A Study of Psychiatric After-care and Rehospitalization

Abstract

An initial report on this study (Sheldon, 1964) demonstrated a significant positive relationship between psychiatric after-care and reduction of readmissions to mental hospital in the six months following hospital discharge when patients were randomly allocated to psychiatric after-care or to the general practitioner. The present paper demonstrates that this effect, although diminished, is still apparent for a similar group of patients allocated to after-care by their discharging psychiatrist and followed up for three years. It attempts to clarify the factors operating in psychiatric selection for after-care, and to explore the relative importance of after-care and of the nature and severity of illness in determining outcome, at least as measured by the number, duration, and time after discharge of rehospitalizations.