Analysis of postdischarge change in a dual diagnosis population

Many individuals with serious mental illnesses have co-occurring drug and a lcohol problems. The research reported in this article examined an integrat ed inpatient mental illness chemical dependency program and compared it wit h standard inpatient psychiatric treatment for two groups: those demonstrat ing high change from baseline to two-months postdischarge and those with ne gative or no change. Univariate analyses revealed significant differences i n the change groups on baseline personal-clinical characteristics and on as pects of their social and physical environments. The results have implicati ons for improving mental health practice by better predicting patients who will optimally benefit from inpatient treatment.