Objective. The purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a telephone nursing intervention in increasing community survival, and decreasing the number and length of rehospitalizations for persons with schizophrenia. Design. A true-experimental, post-test only, control group design was used. Population, Sample, Setting. The sample consisted of 37 persons with schizophrenia residing in the community after discharge from a state psychiatric hospital. Subjects ranged in age from 18 to 68 years with a mean of 40 years. Females comprised 27% (n=10) of the sample. Intervention and Outcome Variables. Experimental subjects received the telephone nursing intervention weekly for three months; control subjects received informational calls at weeks 6 and 12. Community survival, i.e. the number of days spent in the community prior to the first psychiatric rehospitalization during the study, as well as number and length of psychiatric readmission episodes were monitored. Other variables included sociodemographic characteristics, number of lifetime psychiatric hospitalizations, symptoms leading to hospitalization, alternative care sought before hospitalization, and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale Scores. Method. Subjects were recruited from a convenience sample of clients admitted to a state psychiatric hospital for treatment of schizophrenia. After random assignment, subjects were followed for three months after hospital discharge. Findings. Readmission rates were 13% (n=2) for experimental subjects and 23% (n=5) for controls. Compared to controls, experimental subjects experienced a 4% increase in community survival and a 27% reduction in length of stay if readmission occurred. Conclusions. Although the small number of readmissions observed precluded demonstration of statistical significance, these preliminary data suggest that telephone intervention can increase community survival in persons with schizophrenia. Implications. Telephone intervention is an efficient and cost effective way to provide psychiatric nursing services. Future studies should focus on increasing sample size in order to demonstrate statistical effects with confidence. More research is needed to refine the intervention for application to subpopulations. Acknowledgement. This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Nursing Research, Project # F31 NRO 7168-04.
Back to Posters
Back to The Advancing Nursing Practice Excellence: State of the Science