Psychiatric and Social Reasons for Frequent Rehospitalization

to identify factors that commonly contributed to the decision to rebos-pitalize patients who made heavy use ofmentalbealtb services. Meth-Qd.c The case notes of 50 patients with frequent readmissions to the South Australian Mental Health Services over a three-year period were examinedto identify which of 15 factors most frequently con-tributed to hospital readmission. Results: Lack ofinsight or denial of illness was cited in 62.2 percent of the patients ’ 442 total admissions, followed by relationship problems (61. 1 percent), suicidal ideation (44.8 percent), and noncompliance with medication (43.2 percent). When the lsfactors were combined into four major categories, social factors werefound to contribute to 38.9 percent of admissions, fol-lowed by factors related to psychi-atric andphysical illness (31.1 per-cent), dangerousness to self or others (20.3 percent), and sub-stance abuse (9.7percent). Conclu-sions: The substantial contri bution ofsocialfactors to the readmission ofpatients to acute mental health services is strong evidence that the mental health system must provide appropriate targeted resources and Ms. Kent is a social worker and Dr. Yellowlees is chief psychia-trist with the South Australia