Mental patients in nursing homes: their characteristics and treatment.

Nursing homes have become a primary care site for chronic mental patients. The present study reports an empirical investigation of the characteristics of 163 mental patients in nursing homes in a large midwestern city and of the treatment they receive. These mental patients tended to be chronic schizophrenics with an established history of poor social coping. Their average age was 48 years, and they had no obvious physical ailments that would account for their nursing-home placements. These patients received an average of three or four medications each, a figure that tended to increase over a 1-year period. Conversely, relatively little psychosocial treatment is provided these patients, and such treatment tends to decrease over a year. Results are discussed in terms of the relative emphasis in nursing homes on custodial care versus active psychosocial treatment.