Patient attitudes in short-term psychiatric care. Relations to social and psychiatric background, clinical symptoms, and treatment model

Abstract

The attitudes of patients were measured after 4 days and at discharge during two 4-month periods. The attitudes were related to ratings of symptoms, patient background, and type of treatment contract used (cooperation or staff-directed). The patients were generally satisfied with their treatment. A mere 7% disapproved of the general ward structure. The attitude data were subjected to a factor analysis and a 7-factor solution explaining 70% of the variance was found to be suitable. The factors were labelled Ward Structure, Key Worker, Nursing Care, Group Treatment, Psychopharmacological Treatment, Social Network, and Other Patients. A high level of satisfaction in the Ward Structure, Nursing Care, Psychopharmacological Treatment, and Other Patients factors was found to be related to a lower incidence of symptoms at discharge. The staff-contract group showed more favourable attitudes in the Nursing Care factor (both initially and at discharge) and the Psychopharmacological Treatment factor (only initially), while the cooperation-contract group did so in the Social Network factor. It is suggested that the two contract procedures resulted in the development of different kinds of interpersonal relationships during treatment, the cooperation group relying more on the social network, whereas the staff-contract group was more apt to rely on psychopharmacological treatment and on the nursing staff.