Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T08:12:03.926Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Trends in the use of the Italian Mental Health Act, 1979–1997

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2020

Giuseppe Guaiana*
Affiliation:
The University of Hull, Hertford Building. Cottingham Road, Hull HU6 7RX, UK
Corrado Barbui
Affiliation:
Department of Medicine and Public Health, Section of Psychiatry, University of Verona, Italy
*
*Corresponding author. Email addresses:[email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Italian statistics on psychiatric bed availability, voluntary and compulsory admissions were examined from 1979 to 1997. Although the number of psychiatric beds dropped by 62.5%, the absolute number of compulsory admissions has remained substantially stable. The proportion of all admissions that were compulsory decreased from 17.1% to 11%. This study shows that a shift to community care was not associated with an increase in compulsory admissions in Italy.

Type
Rapid communication
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2004

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

D’Avanzo, B, Frattura, L, Barbui, C, Civenti, G, Saraceno, B. The Qualyop project 1: monitoring the dismantlement of Italian public psychiatric hospitals: characteristics of patients scheduled for discharge. Int J Soc Psychiatry 1999;45:79–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Health. Hospital Episode Statistics. London: DoH; 2000 England Financial Year 1998–99.Google Scholar
Dressing, H, Salize, HJ. Is there an increase in the number of compulsory admissions of mentally ill patients in European Union Member States? Gesundheitswesen 2004;66:240–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Johnson, S, Ramsey, R, Thornicroft, G, et al. London’s mental health: the report to the King’s Fund London Commission. London: King’s Fund; 1998 Rev ed.Google Scholar
Priest, RG, Fineberg, N, Merson, S, Kurian, T. Length of stay of acute psychiatric inpatients: an exponential model. Acta Psychiatr Scand; 92:315–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salize, HJ, Dressing, H. Epidemiology of involuntary placement of mentally ill people across the European Union. Br J Psychiatry 2004; 184:163–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tansella, M, sDe Salvia, D, Williams, P. The Italian psychiatric reform: some quantitative evidence. Soc Psychiatry 1987;22:37–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wall, S, Hotopf, M, Wessley, S, Churchill, R. Trends in the use of the Mental Health Act: England, 1984–1996. BMJ 1999;318:1520–1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.