Inpatient psychosocial rehabilitation in rural NSW: Assessment of clinically significant change for people with severe mental illness

Ganapathi Murugesan, Robyn Jeffrey, Carlene Amey, Frank Deane, Brian Kelly, Helen Stain

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the present study was to describe an inpatient psychosocial rehabilitation programme in rural New South Wales and to assess the effectiveness of the programme using measures of clinically significant change. Method: The first 88 patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder to enter the Manara Clinic and Turon House, New South Wales, psychosocial rehabilitation programmes were assessed at admission and discharge using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, the Health of the Nation Outcome Scales, and the Kessler-10 self-report measure. Results: Significant improvements in psychiatric symptomatology, psychosocial functioning, and psychological distress were found over the course of the inpatient stay. Clinical significance analyses using patients in the community as the reference group indicated a reliable and clinically significant improvement for 33% of inpatients on psychiatric symptomatology, 39% of inpatients on psychosocial functioning, and 21% of inpatients on psychological distress. Conclusions: The psychosocial rehabilitation programme provides clinically significant initial benefits for patients with severe mental illnesses. More attention needs to be paid to evaluating which components of psychosocial rehabilitation contribute most to these benefits. Follow-up evaluation is required to determine whether the benefits of this programme are sustained in the community.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)343-350
Number of pages8
JournalAustralian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
Volume41
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2007
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Clinical significance
  • Health services evaluation
  • Mental health
  • Psychosocial rehabilitation
  • Severe mental illness

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