Observations on the Effects Produced by Hospital Transfer in a Group of Chronic Neuropsychiatric and Geriatric Patients

Unexpected consequences of deinstitutionalization of the mentally disabled elderly

“…The welter of studies published during the last 15 years fail to give a simple or unambiguous answer. Several report elderly patients have improved following relocation (e.g., Novick, 1967;Pastalan, 1976;Pihkanen & Lahdenpera, 1963;Zweig & Csank, 1975, others report increased mortality and morbidity (Aldrich & Mendkoff, 1963;Blenkner, 1967;Blenkner, Jahn, & Wasser, 1964;Killian, 1970;Kral, Grad, & Berenson, 1968;Lieberman, 1974;Marlowe, 1974;Miller & Lieberman, 1965;Pablo, 1977), and other studies report either no changes or ambiguous results in transferred samples relative to controls (Bourestom & Tars, 1974;Goldfarb, Shahinian, & Burr, 1972;Jasnau, 1967;Markson & Cumming, 1975;Markus, Blenkner, Bloom, & Downs, 1970Pastalan, 1976;Raasoch, Willmith, Thomson, & Hyde, 1977;Stotsky, 1967;Watson & Buerkle, 1976).…”

“…When discrepancies between old and new environments are marked, and changes are experienced as improvements, elderly persons (other than those with high risk characteristics) tend to improve following transfer (Carp, 19671 Goldfarb et al, 1972;Lieberman, 1974;Novick, 1967;Pihkanen & Lahdenpera, 1963;Raasoch et al, 1977;Whittels & Botwinick, 1974;Zweig & Csank, 1975. A good example is the study of Zweig and Csank (1975) which followed 350 elderly patients who were moved from an aging facility to a newly con.…”