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First evaluation of the Mannheim community mental health service
Author(s) -
Häfner H.,
Klug J.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
acta psychiatrica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.849
H-Index - 146
eISSN - 1600-0447
pISSN - 0001-690X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1980.tb07675.x
Subject(s) - medicine , mental health , epidemiology , population , demography , intervention (counseling) , psychiatry , pediatrics , gerontology , environmental health , sociology
The development of a comprehensive community mental health service in Mannheim, a West‐German industrial city, is evaluated on an epidemiological basis with the data recorded by the case register of the Central Institute for Mental Health. The initial bed rate of 1.5 beds per 1,000 population was comparably low. In spite of an increase in hospital admissions by 40 per cent within four years, the number of occupied beds remained stable, although the rate rose slightly to 1.7/1,000 due to a population decrease in younger and medium age groups. The increase in treated prevalence by over 100 per cent was partly due to an increase in morbidity: Alcohol‐ and drug‐related diseases and attempted suicides increased, partly because unmet needs were covered, mainly by facilities for psychiatric crisis intervention and emergency care in co‐operation with general hospitals and practising physicians. An increase in treated episodes was primarily to be found in out‐patient services, followed by a distinctly lower rise of the number of short‐and medium‐term in‐patient treatments. The rates for short‐ and medium‐term bed occupancy were very similar to the rates reported for Denmark, Camberwell, and Salford. In the sector of long‐term hospital stays (over 1 year), an analogous development took place as in Salford or Camberwell, although the initial bed rates were lower. The rate for long‐term bed occupancy fell by 5–6/100,000 per year from 118/100,000 to 104/100,000. Old long‐stay patients diminished by approximately 8/100,000. The distribution of diagnostic categories and of age groups failed to differ distinctly from those recorded for old long‐stay patients.