Prevention of hospitalization by a community intensive mental health care unit.
The presented study sought to determine the ability of a psycho-social model of intensive care intervention to prevent hospitalization. One hundred and thirteen patients identified as "needing hospitalization" were followed from their first intervention until their exit from the unit, and were checked again, a year after discharge. The results of our follow-up show that within the one year follow-up, the percentage of patients who had been hospitalized among the unit's patients was lower than the percentage of hospitalization common in psychiatric hospitals. This conclusion applies to patients with previous hospitalizations, as well as for patients with no previous hospitalizations. The success of the Intensive Mental Health Care Unit in preventing hospitalization was importantly demonstrated among the group of schizophrenic patients who form the largest subgroup of psychiatric hospital patients. In this study, chances of improvement and of remaining out of the hospital for the follow-up period were higher among patients who were working than when they entered the unit. A cost estimate based on the results indicates that the model tested is also a very cost effective model for intervention.