The Home Behaviour of Schizophrenic Patients Living in the Community and Attending a Day Centre

¹ Acting Senior Psychiatrist, St. Loman's Hospital, Palmerstown, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
² Community Psychiatric Nurse, St. Loman's Hospital, Palmerstown, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
³ Clinical Director, St. Loman's Hospital, Palmerstown, Dublin, Republic of Ireland

Twenty chronic schizophrenic patients attending a day centre and living at home were assessed at the day centre on measures of illness behaviour, work performance, productivity and mental state. Concurrent illness behaviour was also measured in the home setting. The mean level of illness behaviour reported by day centre staff was not significantly different from that recorded at home interviews with patients' families.

Correlations between home and day centre behaviour for individual patients were insignificant, and the pattern of illness behaviour at home was sometimes quite different from that at the day centre. In particular, five patients were overtly aggressive at home but not at the day centre, and another patient showed this pattern in reverse. A high level of `consumer satisfaction' among relatives was maintained at two year follow-up. Although all patients improved somewhat in social performance, the poorest results were obtained with persistently aggressive patients who needed significantly more hospital readmissions and showed least improvement in social performance. These findings have practical implications for extramural care and for assessment of research findings.