Impact of inpatient mental health rehabilitation on psychiatric readmissions: a propensity score matched case control study.

Background: Examination of readmission data is a standard method for evaluating health service outcomes. Limited work has evaluated the efficacy of mental health rehabilitation, despite the need for evidence-based approaches.Aims: To evaluate the impact of inpatient mental health rehabilitation using metrics of psychiatric readmissions routinely collected at occasions of service.Methods: Consumers (n = 252) of a nonacute inpatient mental health rehabilitation unit were case matched with normative clients from community mental health services. The impact of inpatient care was measured on: (1) the occurrence of a psychiatric readmission within 12 months of discharge; (2) the total number of psychiatric readmissions within 12 months of discharge; and (3) the number of days to a psychiatric readmission after discharge.Results: The proportion of consumers experiencing a readmission significantly decreased following inpatient care, comparable to the normative group. The number of readmissions also significantly decreased, approaching normative group levels, except in consumers with comorbid bipolar, substance use, or personality disorder. Time to a readmission significantly increased following inpatient care, approximating normative group values, and was related to the number of previous admissions.Conclusion: Routinely collected service data demonstrated nonacute inpatient mental health rehabilitation reduces re-hospitalization, which will have benefits for both consumers and health services.

Longitudinal analysis of statistical and clinically significant psychosocial change following mental health rehabilitation.

Purpose: With appropriate mental health rehabilitation, schizophrenia is increasingly associated with reports of recovery and stability. However, there is little empirical evidence evaluating the efficacy of services delivering this care. This study evaluated the effectiveness of rehabilitation for improving psychosocial function in consumers with schizophrenia.Methods: An electronic database of standardized assessment instruments mandated and maintained by the health service was retrospectively reviewed to extract ratings of psychosocial function, daily living skills, and mood state from consecutive admissions to an inpatient rehabilitation service. Outcomes were compared at admission, discharge, and one-year follow-up to identify statistically significant change. Individual reliable and clinically significant change was also assessed by comparison with a normative group of clients functioning independently in the community.Results: From admission to discharge the rehabilitation group made statistically significant gains in psychosocial function and daily living skills. Improvements were reliable and clinically significant in one-quarter to one-third of individual consumers. Approximately half sustained their improvements at follow-up, although this represented only a small fraction of the overall cohort. Consumers not demonstrating gains exhibited psychometric floor effects at admission.Conclusions: Rehabilitation can produce statistically and clinically significant immediate improvement in psychosocial function for a sub-set of consumers with elevated scores at admission. The durability of any gains is less clear, and strategies promoting longer-term maintenance are encouraged. Furthermore, currently mandated outcome measures are confounded by issues of sensitivity and reporting compliance, and exploration of alternative instruments for assessing recovery is recommended.Implications for RehabilitationRoutinely collected standardized outcome measures can be used to investigate the effectiveness of mental health rehabilitationIn addition to statistical significance, the clinical significance of outcomes should be evaluated to identify change that is individually meaningfulCurrently mandated outcomes instruments do not adequately evaluate many individuals' recovery journeyMental health service evaluation and quality improvement processes would likely benefit from adoption of recovery-oriented measures.