Attitudes of Psychiatric Ex-Patients toward a Study of Community Adjustment

Abstract

Questionnaires were presented to 73 psychiatric ex-patients to determine their retrospective attitudes toward participation in a one-year study of post-hospital adjustment. More than 50% of Ss reported that research contacts had been helpful in one or more specific respects. Attitudes toward research demands were predominantly neutral. Patients who completed 6 or more monthly interview-test sessions (N = 53) differed from those who completed 5 or less (N = 20) in finding research contacts more helpful, questions easier to answer and enlightening vs confusing, and study participation conducive to cohesion vs disruption in the family. Dropouts appeared to have in common wishes to deny mental illness and to forget hospitalization.