High Expectations of Long-Term Ex-State Hospital Patients
H. RICHARD LAMB. M.D.1, and
VICTOR GOERTZEL PH.D.2
1 Chief, Rehabilitation Services, San Mateo County Department of Public Health and Welfare, 1050 Brittan Ave., San Carlos, Calif. 94070
2 Research Psychologist at Ellsworth House, San Mateo County Department of Public Health and Welfare, 1050 Brittan Ave., San Carlos, Calif. 94070
In an effort to determine the effectiveness of rehabilitation efforts with long-term patients who leave state hospitals, discharged patients were randomly assigned to high- or low-expectation programs in the community. The high-expectation setting included a day treatment center and a halfway house. The low-expectation setting included mostly boarding homes, where little was required of the patients. The authors found that the high-expectation setting was superior to the other not so much in keeping patients out of the hospital longer but in increasing their level of vocational and social functioning.
