Type of housing predicts rate of readmission to hospital but not length of stay in people with schizophrenia on the Gold Coast in Queensland

Abstract

Accommodation is considered to be important by institutions interested in mental health care both in Australia andinternationally. Some authorities assert that no component of a community mental health system is more importantthan decent affordable housing. Unfortunately there has been little research in Australia into the consequences ofdischarging people with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia to different types of accommodation. This paper usesarchival data to investigate the outcomes for people with schizophrenia discharged to two types of accommodation.The types of accommodation chosen are the person's own home and for-profit boarding house. These two were chosenbecause the literature suggests that they are respectively the most and least desirable types of accommodation.Results suggest that people with schizophrenia who were discharged to boarding houses are significantly more likelyto be readmitted to the psychiatric unit of Gold Coast Hospital, although their length of stay in hospital is notsignificantly different.