A new unit for long-stay psychiatric patients: organization, attitudes and quality of care

Abstract

SynopsisThe present study describes and evaluates aspects of care in a new residential unit for chronic patients. The findings suggest that the unit is relatively resident-orientated in its management practices and that the staff are similarly orientated in their attitudes. Staff also hold generally optimistic attitudes to residents' potential accomplishments and consider themselves highly involved in decision-making. They also show high levels of positive interactions with the residents. Various aspects of staff attitudes and behaviour are positively correlated with seniority or length of time on the unit. The results are discussed in terms of the unit's organizational structure and its possible impact on residents' functioning.

Quality of life in a new hospital hostel

“…The results were added and the mean answer to each question was 0.07 for attitudes and 0.07 for practices. These show Hambleton Lodge to be extremely client orientated and the results are similar to the Manchester study and a hostel ward in London (Garety & Morris, 1984). In the Manchester study on district general hospital acute psychiatric wards, the staffs attitude score was 0.27 and staff practice was 0.36; in an unstaffed group home the staffs attitude and practice scores were again far higher than in the hospital hostels.…”

“…(3) Staff attitudes and practices. These were assessed by using the management practices questionnaire (MP; Garety & Morris, 1984).…”

Le sort des patients souffrant de troubles mentaux très graves et persistants lorsqu’il n’y a pas d’hôpital psychiatrique : étude de cas

“…Il y aurait lieu de s'inspirer des exemples britanniques des « hostel wards » (Garety et al, 1984 ;Leff et al, 2002) et canadien de Seven Oaks (Publications Santé Canada, 1997), petites ressources à haut ratio personnel-patient, où les plans de soins incluent une dimension de réadaptation. Il semble possible avec les efforts appropriés, de faire éventuellement « graduer » une partie de ces personnes à des milieux plus légers et proches de la communauté.…”

“…Il existe par contre, des alternatives à l'hôpital psychiatrique, plus « humaines », de petite taille ; elles ont en commun un haut ratio personnel/patient, disponible 24 h/jour ; un encadrement étroit associé à des efforts de réadaptation ; des plans de soins visant l'extinction des comportements les plus problématiques. En Angleterre, ce sont les « hostel wards » (Garety et al, 1984 ;Trieman et al, 1996b ;Leff et al, 2002). Au Canada, le programme Seven Oaks, en Colombie Britannique, est souvent cité en exemple (Publications Santé Canada, 1997 ; voir article du présent numéro).…”

Toward Benchmarks for Tertiary Care for Adults with Severe and Persistent Mental Disorders

“…The types of settings may change. For example, "hostel wards" may be used as alternative tertiary care facilities rather than current long-stay hospital wards (25,26). Second, patients with psychosis may live with reduced handicaps today, relative to past decades, owing to earlier and more comprehensive treatment and rehabilitation interventions; intensive home care; and less supervised settings, where residents are encouraged to make greater use of daily living skills; greater community integration; and less use of long-stay wards.…”