Mixed Results for Intensive Home Care for Psychiatric Crises

[nancy]

Intensive home treatment may offer an alternative to inpatient care for patients in acute psychiatric crisis — but the intervention is no outright substitute, new research suggests. In a randomized controlled trial of more than 200 participants, intensive home treatment was associated with a 34% decrease in the number of inpatient hospital days in the year following therapy compared with usual care. However, there was no difference between treatment groups in improvement in quality of life or patient satisfaction; and a reduction in symptom severity noted after 6 weeks of home treatment faded within 6 months.

[lipi]

@nancy Intensive home treatment is increasingly popular as an alternative to hospitalization. It was developed to prevent or reduce levels of inpatient care and facilitate the transition between inpatient care and low-intensity outpatient care