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Predicting outcomes in inpatient treatment of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: Implications on the role of the Community Transition Program in the Nebraska state mental health system

Mark Everett Weilage, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Abstract

The present study has two purposes. The first purpose was to determine predictors of outcome for residents in the Community Transition Program, the state's only comprehensive psychiatric rehabilitation program (Sullivan, 1996). The second purpose was to complete a cost analysis of the program in relation to other forms of hospital care. The specific goals of the study were to identify and use these predictors to improve admission criteria in order to help provide cost effective treatment and help define the program's role within the state mental health system. Overall, the present study does show a cost savings for treatment received through the Community Transition Program when compared to other approaches to hospitalization. Given this cost savings, it may be appropriate to consider utilization of similar treatment approaches at other state hospital facilities. However, the present study's difficulty in building an adequate model of the relationship between predictor (symptomatic, cognitive, functional, and demographic) variables and outcome (global, functional, hospitalization, and satisfaction) variables, makes it difficult to improve the program's current admission criteria. Current data indicates an 85% success rate for people entering the Community Transition Program. Therefore, it seems likely that the program's current admission criteria is already so good that it is difficult to add more statistically significant predictor variables to the screening process. With this in mind, the following variables were found to be somewhat useful in predicting outcomes: prior hospitalizations, age, interpersonal problem solving skills, psychomotor speed, presence and severity of positive symptoms, and cognitive abilities in the areas of intelligence, memory, and cognitive flexibility. These variables can account for as much as 30% of the variance in outcome. The program still has a high success rate (85%) and it remains possible that, with more data, further relationships may become apparent, and the model may grow in both size and utility. This would be the goal of further research in this area.

Subject Area

Psychotherapy|Mental health|Health care

Recommended Citation

Weilage, Mark Everett, "Predicting outcomes in inpatient treatment of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders: Implications on the role of the Community Transition Program in the Nebraska state mental health system" (1997). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9804341.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9804341

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