Am J Psychiatry 1981; 138:1228-1231
Copyright © 1981 by American Psychiatric Association
Psychiatric aftercare: identified needs versus referral patterns
DA Wasylenki, P Goering, W Lancee, L Fischer and SJ Freeman
Although psychiatric aftercare has received increased attention, little is
known about patients' needs for community resources or about predischarge
referral patterns. The authors interviewed hospital staff about needs and
referrals for each of 747 patients about to be discharged. Nearly all
patients had needs in the medical/therapeutic area and most received
referrals. In three other nonmedical aftercare areas needs were identified
for a much lower percentage of patients, and identified need was two to
three times greater than referrals made. The authors discuss the
implications of these findings for the provision of aftercare services.
