Self-care program for inpatients in a mental hospital.

SUMMARY: A self-care program for selected inpatients in a mental hospital has been developed and has been in operation for more than a year. The 12-bed unit operates without any nursing or other professional staff during the night and weekend. Certain factors, including the mental hospital as an organization, tend to hamper the development of this type of program as well as the progress and growth of other programs in psychiatric hospitals. It is suggested that the much needed progress in the mental hospital would be facilitated by an open-systems approach to its organization. Mental hospitals should consider the introduction of self-care programs for selected patients, mainly in view of their therapeutic potential, but also because of the financial savings such programs offer.