A Ten-Year Follow-up Study of the Effects of Deinstitutionalization

The Cambridge-Somerville unit of the Massachusetts state hospital system, which was studied by the author in 1977, was resurveyed to examine changes in the clinical characteristics of the patient population between 1977 and 1987. Although the number of patients in the hospital remained almost the same, there were striking increases in the percentages of male patients and of patients on involuntary legal status. There was a decrease in the number of patients who had hospital stays of 30 days or less or of more than five years and an increase in the number of patients staying between one and 12 months. These findings demonstrate that the effects of deinstitutionalization continue long after trends toward reduction of census have stabilized.