Factors associated with the length of stay of elderly, chronically mentally ill persons in a state psychiatric hospital

Deinstitutionalization has been the policy framework of public mental health care in the United States for over twenty-five years. In that time a whole generation has entered the mental health system, the young chronic adults of the baby boom generation. They have brought with them a series of problems and challenges that the system was unprepared to deal with. These chronically, seriously mentally ill people are aging and will bring with them a new series of problems and challenges for the mental health community. In order to avoid the mistakes of the past, we must begin to merge the learning and knowledge of both the field of aging and the field of mental health. We must begin to plan programs and services that will meet their unique needs in a timely fashion. This study examined the case records of all people, aged 55 or more who were admitted to a state psychiatric hospital over a two year period in an effort to identify some of the factors associated with lengths of stay