Patients' assessment of treatment predicting outcome.

Using a visual analog scale, 34 schizophrenia patients receiving long-term treatment in community care rated the extent to which their treatment was right for them. We investigated whether these assessments would predict the duration of patient hospitalization during an initial followup period of 12 months and a longer followup period of 30 months. The duration of full and partial hospitalization was assessed by means of a hospitalization index. Patients who assessed their treatment more negatively had significantly higher hospitalization indices in the two followup periods. The predictive value of the patients' assessments of treatment was not explained by the influence of other variables.