SOCIAL AND LIVING SKILLS OF NEW LONG-STAY HOSPITAL PATIENTS AND NEW LONG-TERM COMMUNITY PATIENTS

The study assessed differences in social behavior skills and everyday living skills in two groups of psychiatric patients: hospital inpatien ts with stays of between six months and five years (new long-stay pati ents) and discharged patients who had resided in the community for a s imilar length of time (new long-term patients). Methods: In a cross-se ctional study based on a point prevalence survey in an outer London ps ychiatric hospital, 23 new long-stay and 23 new long-term patients wer e rated using the Social Behaviour Scale (SBS) and Basic Everyday Livi ng Skills (BELS). Results: Mean scores on both scales indicated signif icantly poorer functioning in the new long-stay group, Ratings on the BELS self-care and domestic skills subscales also indicated poorer fun ctioning in that group. No significant differences between groups were found for the subscales measuring community and social relations skil ls, Significant gender differences emerged in ratings of domestic skil ls; men's scores indicated more impairment in the new long-stay group than in the new long-term group, while women's scores were comparable between the groups, Conclusions: Developing, enhancing, and maintainin g skills among new long-stay patients, especially self-care and domest ic skills, may facilitate their discharge into supported community set tings.