Am J Psychiatry 1975; 132:413-418
Copyright © 1975 by American Psychiatric Association
Brief hospitalization of patients with families: initial results
MI Herz, J Endicott and RL Spitzer
A total of 175 newly admitted inpatients who lived with families were
randomly assigned to three treatment groups: standard inpatient care
(discharge at the therapist's discretion), brief hospitalization (one week
or less) with transitional day care available, and brief hospitalization
without day care. Outpatient aftercare was offered to all patients. The
three groups showed no significant differences as to amount of improvement
in levels of psychopathology at 3 and 12 weeks, but the briefly
hospitalized patients were able to resume their vocational roles sooner.
There were no significant differences among the groups in readmission
rates.
