The relationship between adaptive functioning and readmission to a short-term psychiatric unit
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between recidivism and adaptive functioning in a short-term psychiatric population. Specific variables studied included number of previous psychiatric hospitalization, social support, substance abuse, violent/aggressive behavior, utilization of outpatient services, employment history, and use of leisure time. The sample consisted of 65 recidivists and 65 non-recidivists hospitalized on the inpatient psychiatric units of Interfaith Medical Center. Relevant data were obtained by interviewing patients, as well as outside corroborating sources, such as family members. Social support and substance abuse were assessed by using the Family/Social and Substance Abuse subscales of the Addiction Severity Index (McLellan, Luborsky, Woody, & O'Brien, 1980; McLellan, et al., 1990). Subjects were also administered the Revised UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russell, Peplau, & Cutrona, 1980). Data were subjected to t-tests and regression analysis. The present study not only confirmed the oft-reported finding that the number of previous hospitalizations is the best predictor or recidivism, but was unique in that the regression analysis revealed this one variable to account for an overwhelming 66% of the variance. The t-tests showed recidivists to have poorer social support, report greater loneliness, be more likely to use drugs, report a greater number of violent incidents, have worked fewer months in the past year, and spend more time in unstructured activities than non-recividists. The number of hours spent in unstructured activities and number of months worked in the last made a slight but significant contribution to the total variance (2.7% and 0.9%, respectively). Alcohol abuse and utilization of substance abuse did not differentiate between recidivists and non-recidivists. However, alcohol abuse was unexpectedly counterpredictive of recidivism, contributing 1.9% to the variance.
Subject Area
Psychotherapy
Recommended Citation
Rashid, Imran, "The relationship between adaptive functioning and readmission to a short-term psychiatric unit" (1997). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9730104.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9730104
