Purpose

An assessment of the subjective experience of admission and first days of hospitalization at a psychiatric hospital and an analysis of its associations with socio-demographic and clinical factors.

Methods

Analyses comprised data on 297 subjects. Diagnoses comprised the whole spectrum of F0-F9 according to ICD-10, the most numerous being F2 (39%), F1 (17%), F3 (16%) and F0 (11%). 30% of the subjects were hospitalised for the first time and 18% were admitted without consent. They were asked to evaluate the situation of being admitted and the first days of their hospitalization 4 to 10 days after the admission. The FEA-P questionnaire was used, with seven dimensions: attitude towards staff, explanation of treatment plan, housing conditions, critical remarks to staff, perception of other patients, perception of ward rules and ward atmosphere.

Results

The total averaged rating on a five-point scale was 3.8. The admission and first days of hospitalization were rated better by older people, by persons with parental roles, patients with a co-morbid somatic illness and those admitted voluntarily. Women from female units were more critical than men. The investigated predictors explained from 11% to 20% of different aspects of the experience of admission and first days of hospitalization.

Conclusions

The majority of respondents assessed positively all aspects of admission and their first days of hospitalization. One of the most important predictors of higher ratings of the admission and first days of hospitalization was the older age of the subjects. Moreover, more critical evaluation was related to the type of ward (co-educational or single-sex) the subjects were staying in, with women from female units showing the most critical appraisals. The results obtained point to the significance of both demographic variables as well as the surroundings as regards the reception of the situation of admission into hospital.