Decreasing hospital stays necessitate various community supports for persons with schizophrenia. However, there is little research on the effectiveness of community-based nursing interventions for this population. A true experimental, post test only design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a telephone nursing intervention in increasing community survival, and decreasing the number and length of stay of rehospitalizations for persons with schizophrenia.
The sample consisted of 48 schizophrenic persons discharged from a state psychiatric hospital located in the southeast. The subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental group, which received the telephone nursing intervention weekly, or the control group, which received an informational follow-up call at 6 weeks and 12 week. Subjects were followed for three months, and community survival, as well as the number and length of readmissions were compared.
The findings were: (a) no significant differences in community survival between the two groups, (b) no significant difference in number of readmissions between the two groups, and (c) the length of stay upon readmission was shorter for experimental subjects, but the difference was not statistically significant.
The results of this study suggest that the first month after discharge is one of high risk for readmission in persons with schizophrenia. Variables relating to social support and the utilization of community resources for psychiatric care need to be considered when providing care to this population. Preliminary data suggest that the telephone intervention was successful in fostering community survival after the first month in the community. However, replication with a larger sample is required to demonstrate the significance of this finding. In addition, more research is needed to ascertain if the intervention can be refined to promote community stability during the high-risk period immediately after hospital discharge. Therefore, continued study of telephone nursing intervention with schizophrenic clients residing in the community is recommended.
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