RESUMO
This study assessed patterns of mental health service use over time by patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) - as compared with patients with schizophrenia and major depression - with emphasis on the persistence and episodic versus continuous nature of use. Data on utilization were extracted from Veterans Health Administration (VA) administrative data bases. Temporal patterns of use were categorized into intervals of inpatient, outpatient, and no use. PTSD patients used substantial amounts of mental health services, but averaged 2.2 nonuse intervals lasting more than 100 days each, implying that use was episodic. Use of mental health services by patients with PTSD is substantial, persistent, and quite episodic. To the extent that use of services reflects the course of the disorder, the results suggest that remissions are usually followed by relapse, and that absence of symptoms does not mean that the disorder has run its course.
Assuntos
Serviços de Saúde Mental/estatística & dados numéricos , Transtornos de Estresse Pós-Traumáticos/reabilitação , Análise de Variância , Transtorno Depressivo/reabilitação , Cuidado Periódico , Feminino , Humanos , Tempo de Internação , Masculino , Planejamento de Assistência ao Paciente , Estudos Prospectivos , Recidiva , Esquizofrenia/reabilitação , Estados Unidos , United States Department of Veterans AffairsRESUMO
This study defined and examined the interrelationships among four multicategory definitions of robust aging: productive involvement, affective status, functional status, and cognitive status. Data are from a sample of 1,644 adults aged 60 and older who participated in a nationwide household survey in 1986. The four robust aging indicators were minimally correlated, suggesting that they tap a multidimensional phenomenon. Several personal characteristics were found to distinguish robustly aging individuals from their less-well-functioning counterparts for at least one robust aging criterion. The most robustly aging individuals reported greater social contact, better health and vision, and fewer significant life events in the past three years than their less robustly aging counterparts. The data also indicated a linear age-related decrease in the proportion of respondents found in the most robust aging categories, but membership in the oldest-old cohort did not preclude one from being identified as aging robustly.
