
Behaviors as Risk Factors for Rehospitalization
Implications for Predicting and Preventing Admissions Among the Seriously Mentally Ill
Published in: Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, v. 32, no. 4, May 1997, p. 185-190
Posted on RAND.org on May 01, 1997
This case-control study investigated the extent to which aberrant behaviors, in contrast to more traditional clinical factors (such as symptoms and alcohol abuse), place individuals with schizophrenia at increased risk for rehospitalization. One hundred and one recidivists (cases) were matched to 101 nonrecidivists (controls) on gender, race, and time since index hospitalization. Key informants, usually family members, were interviewed to assess behaviors during a 2-week period. After controlling for possible confounding variables, we found that each aberrant behavior increased the risk for rehospitalization, but highly disruptive or dangerous behaviors (such as threatening others, acting very bizarrely, or attempting suicide) conveyed a markedly high degree of risk (adjusted odds ratio = 83.9). It is possible that service providers may be able to avert the fiscal and emotional cost of hospitalization by collaborating more closely with family members to identify these behaviors and intervene before hospitalization becomes unavoidable.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation External publication series. Many RAND studies are published in peer-reviewed scholarly journals, as chapters in commercial books, or as documents published by other organizations.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.