A Descriptive Report On Sixty-Five Halfway House Patients Over a Two-and-One-Half-Year Period

Abstract

HIS study includes actuarial data, psychological testing and behavioural ratings Ton patients assigned to the three halfway :11 houses() in Gulfport, Mississippi, during the period from January 1, 19611, , to July 1, 1963. N = 65.The purpose of this study was twofold. The first was the determination of the fate of halfway house residents in terms of various criteria of success, the most important of which is living outside the hospital. The second objective was the discovery of indices which would be useful in the selection of future halfway house residents. Table 1 indicates the status of the 65 patients at the termination of the research period. Of the 65 patients who entered the halfway house during that period, 30 or 46.2 per cent had succeeded in the halfway house and had progressed to trial visit or discharge status in an unsheltered environment. Remaining in the halfway house successfully were 18 or 27.7 per cent, while 17 or 26.1 per cent were back in the hospital. These results appear encouraging at face value, but their real significance can only be assayed after a study of the type of patients involved. TABLE 1 STATUS OF HALFWAY HOUSE PARTICIPANTSAll but three of the patients were diagnosed as having one of the forms of schizophrenia and no relationship was found between these diagnoses and outcome. Chronicity of schizophrenia and hospitalization have been found in other studies to have prognostic value. For example, according to Malzberg, (2) the prognosis for discharge of schizophrenics diminishes markedly after the second year of hospitalization. In Malzberg's sample of males at the age of the subjects reported in this study, the percentage of patients who had been hospitalized three years who were discharged before their fourth year was 19 per cent; and of those beginning their fourth year of hospitalization, 8 per cent were discharged during that year. The results in the present study (see Table 2) show number of months in the hospital prior to halfway house placement to be a highly significant prognostic index. Chi-square = 7.01, 1 df, and is significant beyond .01. Of course, the &dquo;successful&dquo; group, i.e., those progressing beyond the halfway house, would at Southern Illinois University Carbondale on June 6, 2015 isp.sagepub.com Downloaded from

Halfway Houses for Alcoholics: a Review, Analysis and Comparison With Other Halfway House Facilities

“…They discovered, furthermore, that some alcoholic residents were indeed able to show over-all improvement while residing at a halfway house (p. 485). Three other studies 39,41,45 recommend that postrelease programmes be tailored to specific client characteristics.…”