Deinstitutionalization of mental hospitals and rates of psychiatric disability: An international study.

This study tests several hypotheses regarding the impact of deinstitutionalization of inpatient care on levels of psychiatric disability. It employs a secondary analysis of existing datasets from the World Health Organization's mental health program, the Global Burden of Disease study, as well as supplemental datasets on the national environments examined. The primary model accounts for 87.1% of the variation in global disability levels, but only a quarter or 28.3% of the recent changes in these levels between 1990 and 2015. One of the most important predictors of declines in mental disability is the proportion of a nation's health budget that is invested in mental health services.