Abstract:
In attempting to reduce psychotic symptomatology and initiate a resocialization process, the author introduced two interventions to the entire patient population in two long-term wards in a State mental hospital, who represented all the major categories of chronic psychiatric disturbance (a no-treatment control group, matched on age, sex, diagnosis and length of hospitalisation being randomly selected from patients in the rest of the hospital): "Intervention Programme A (IP-A) had the general aim of securing the interest, involvement and cooperation of the nursing staff in the project, while Intervention Programme B (IP-B) focused on the reactivation of the patient. Specific interventions included the introduction of formal and informal staff group meetings, division of patients into groups based on the extent of their disability, clarifying staff responsibility and drawing up structured programmes of activities for each patient group. "Subject were assessed on the Nurses' Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation (NOSIE) and an abbreviated form of the Progress Assessment Charts... "Results indicated that all experimental subjects made significant gains in resocialisation when compared with the controls. However, the reduction of psychotic symptomatology was related to the extent of the disability. "Implications of these findings for the treatment of chronic institutionalised patients, the limitations of the experimental design, and the usefulness of the role model in the treatment of these patients are discussed. In addition, recommendations are made for clinically relevant future research."
