Al. Pillay et al., DEMOGRAPHIC AND READMISSION DATA IN A THERAPEUTIC-COMMUNITY FOR BLACKPSYCHIATRIC-PATIENTS IN SOUTH-AFRICA, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 28(4), 1994, pp. 684-688
Therapeutic communities have an important role in adult psychiatric ca
re. Such a hospital unit is described within a Black psychiatric hospi
tal in South Africa. However, owing to apartheid very few Black clinic
al psychologists have been trained. Translators frequently have to be
used in the therapeutic context, which is an unorthodox approach. Neve
rtheless, various therapeutic groups are conducted. Demographic and cl
inical data for a 3 year period are presented, showing most of the pat
ients to be male, unmarried and around 30 years of age. Schizophrenic
conditions were the most common diagnoses, with problems of self-care
and low self-esteem predominating. Although a readmission rate of 22.1
% was noted the lack of adequate control measures in this study must b
e taken into consideration.