Abstract
BACKGROUND: The time between discharge from hospital and transition to community and home is a critical period for health status among patients with a mental illness, including patients with schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate crucial patient factors (patient-level) and hospital factors (hospital-level) affecting health status and see whether patient factor effects on health status vary with hospital factors, 30 days after hospital discharge. METHODS: This is a prospective study of 1255 patients with schizophrenia and their primary caregivers from 13 public mental hospitals across Thailand. Logistic regression and multi-level logistic regression was used to investigate the effects of patient and hospital factors simultaneously on health status, 30 days after hospital discharge. RESULTS: The intraclass correlation coefficient indicated that 14% of the change in health status was explained by the differences between hospital. Poor health status was identified in 14.26% of patients, 30 days after hospital discharge. The majority of participant patients were male (69.8%), single (71.87%), and the average age was 38.09 (SD = 9.74). The finding also showed that the patient factors; being female (OR(adj) .53, 95%CI .31,.92), perceived moderate and high levels of positive aspect of caregiving (OR(adj) .24, 95%CI .14,.42 and OR(adj) .05, 95%CI .02,.09), perceived readiness for hospital discharge (OR(adj) .21, 95%CI .13,.33), partial and full adherence to treatment (OR(adj) .24, 95%CI .14,.42 and OR(adj) .31, 95%CI .20,.47) showed a reduced likelihood of developing poor health status except substance use (OR(adj) 1.55, 95%CI .98, 2.44). Hospital factors; discharge planning process and nurse-patient ratio (OR(adj) 1.64, 95%CI 1.17, 2.30 and OR(adj) 1.16, 95%CI 1.09, 1.22) showed an increased likelihood of developing poor health status, 30 days after hospital discharge. CONCLUSIONS: Findings provide relevant information on how both patient and hospital factors determine health status. These results might lead to better targeting of mental health service policy and enable more precise information gathering and allocation of resources. However, future research should be more focused and continue investigating the pathways through which hospital factors influence health status post-discharge.