Am J Psychiatry 1976; 133:795-801
Copyright © 1976 by American Psychiatric Association
Brief versus standard hospitalization: the families
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. There
was no major differential family burden as a function of length of
hospitalization. Generally, brief hospitalization had several positive
effects on family functioning, primarily earlier resumtption of
occupational roles and less financial burden, with few significant
deleterious effects.
