State hospital patients discharged to nursing homes: how are they doing?

In the second phase of a follow-up of state hospital patients discharged to nursing homes, conducted by the Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation and Department of Health, the functioning of nursing home patients three years after their discharge from state hospitals was compared with the functioning of a matched group of patients retained by the hospitals. Interviewers surveyed the subjects and direct care staff responsible for them with a battery of instruments that measured physical, psychological, and social functioning. Analyses of data for 317 subjects in each group indicated few significant differences between the groups: over-all, those discharged to nursing homes were functioning as well as those retained by the hospitals.