A comparative study of outcome of clients in a community residential facility and a mental hospital in Jamaica [abstract]

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical outcome of residents in a community-based residential facility and a similar cohort of patients with severe mental illness resident in a mental hospital in Jamaica. METHOD: In this case-control study, 40 patients with severe enduring mental illness resident in a community residential facility in St.Andrew, Jamaica, were compared with controls matched for age, gender and social class selected from the Bellevue Mental Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica. Demographic and clinical variables were collected using the PANSS interview schedule and the Krawiecka and Goldberg symptom severity schedule. The outcome variables studied were the WHO Quality of Life Assessment Scales parameters, the Cantril Self-Anchoring Ladder measuring levels of social isolation, and client's satisfaction Verona Satisfication Scale. Clients with a profile of severe enduring mental illness living in three privately run community residential facilities were interviewed and compared with a matched control cohort from the Bellevue Mental Hospital. RESULTS: The community group had fewer clinical symptoms and displayed a more favourable outcome variable profile. They had greater family and community contact, and decreased levels of social isolation. CONCLUSION: Community residential facilities offer substantially more robust clinical and social outcome for patients with severe enduring mental illness. (AU)