Twenty-year prospective study
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
Knowledge of working capacity from adolescence until adulthood among severely disturbed in-patients is scarce.
In a follow-up study of 61 adolescent in-patients, we studied associations between being on a disability pension 20 years after hospitalisation, and the patients' psychopathology and treatment-related factors during the hospitalisation and seven-year follow-up.
Of the former in-patients. 27% had not been on a disability pension, 20% had short-term pension periods, and 53% were pensioned. Subjects whose overall psychosocial functioning had improved and who had not utilised in-patient services until the seven-year follow-up, had a better prognosis in terms of working capacity Half of the subjects who had not been on pension during the follow-up had received a diagnosis of conduct disorder at discharge, and half of those pensioned had a psychotic disorder.
The patients' level of psychosocial functioning and capability to work in young adulthood were associated with long-term prognosis in terms of working capacity Adolescence seems to be the critical time for intensive psychiatric care combined with vocational rehabilitation programmes.
eLetters
No eLetters have been published for this article.