Al. Pillay et Dr. Wassenaar, HOPELESSNESS AND PSYCHIATRIC SYMPTOMATOLOGY IN HOSPITALIZED PHYSICALLY ILL ADOLESCENTS, South African Journal of Psychology, 26(1), 1996, pp. 47-51
This study compares scores on psychiatric disturbance and hopelessness
in two adolescent samples. The one sample was a physically ill hospit
alized group, and the other was a matched group of healthy control sub
jects. It was found that the hospitalized physically ill group scored
significantly higher on both psychiatric disturbance and hopelessness
than the health group. At six-month follow-up, the physically ill grou
p's scores on psychiatric disturbance had declined significantly, but
hopelessness scores remained significantly high. In line with other fi
ndings, this study suggests that insufficient clinical attention is pa
id to psychiatric symptoms in hospitalized physically ill patients, an
d that the high hopelessness scores after six months warrant clinical
psychological evaluation.