CCPP - COPENHAGEN COMMUNITY PSYCHIATRIC PROJECT - IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNITY-MENTAL-HEALTH-CENTERS IN COPENHAGEN - EFFECTS OF SERVICE UTILIZATION, SOCIAL INTEGRATION, QUALITY-OF-LIFE AND POSITIVE AND NEGATIVESYMPTOMS

Deinstitutionalization of psychiatry in Denmark has been extensive and the number of psychiatric beds per 1,000 inhabitants is among the low est in Europe. The effect of supplementing hospital treatment with tre atment in community mental health centres was evaluated in a quasi-exp erimental design. The patient group examined consisted of patients wit h long-term contact with psychiatric services. When development in int ervention and control districts was compared, the only significant dif ference was that the total patient group in the intervention district had an increased number of day attendances per year. Comparison of pat ients from intervention districts who attended day-centres regularly w ith patients from control districts before and after implementation of community mental health centres indicated that patients from interven tion districts had a reduction in the use of inpatient services, a sig nificant increase in quality of life and a significant decrease in the presence of the negative symptom, alogia. We concluded that implement ation of community mental health centres can increase the quality of l ife for the patients and decrease the frequency of the negative sympto m, alogia.