J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  1999 Jul;38(4):774-783.

A Survey on the Long-term Hospitalized, Chronically Mentally-ill Patients in Mental Health Facilities

• Kim YM
• Cho BM
• Jang KY
• Chung YI

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: In an attempt to identify the demographic characteristics and the factors influencing long-term hospitalization of chronically mentally-ill patients, a survey on the chronically mentally-ill patients who had been staying longer than 1 year in mental health facilities was conducted.
METHODS
Checklist including some demographic data that were regarded as independent variables was applied to 3,477 subjects through administration system of Pusan Metropolitan City. Statistical analyse were done using distribution-free, non-parametric tests.
RESULTS
1)Subjects who had been staying longer than 1 year were 70.7% of the total inpatients of mental health facilities, and median duration of their hospitalization was 5.5 years. 2)In mental hospitals and asylums, the ratio of chronically mentally-ill subjects to the total inpatients in each facilitiy was 46.3% and 95.1%, respectively. 3)All of the 10 independent variables had an influence on the hospitalization duration.
CONCLUSIONS
These results indicated that many indirect, extramedical factors had an influence the long-term hospitalization of chronically mentally-ill patients, and it is likely to reflect the underdevelopment of mental health services in Korea.

Keyword

Long-term hospitalization; Chronically mentally-ill patient; Community mental health

MeSH Terms

Busan
Checklist
Hospitalization
Hospitals, Psychiatric
Humans
Inpatients
Korea
Mental Health Services
Mental Health*