Nursing homes and chronic mental patients: a second opinion.

Through a critical review of Shadish and Bootzin's (1981) work in "Nursing Homes and Chronic Mental Patients," the author defines the larger context in which this national problem occurs, presents important distinctions among various subgroups of nursing home residents, and summarizes some of the most glaring historical inadequacies of using institutions as the core of a mental health system. Through this approach, the presentation raises serious questions about Shadish and Bootzin's proposal to use nursing homes as a foundation on which to reconstruct an improved community services system for chronically mentally ill persons.