Research That Matters (January 17 - 20, 2008) |
Methods: This secondary analysis draws from data from the Suffolk County Mental Health Project, an NIMH-funded prospective epidemiological study of the natural course of psychotic illness in Suffolk County, New York. A sample of 594 individuals who experienced their first hospitalization ever due to psychosis (27%, schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder; 31%, bipolar or major depressive disorder with psychotic features; 42%, other) was identified and their (1) demographic and clinical characteristics (2) duration of untreated psychosis and utilization of health services before first hospitalization; and (3) circumstances surrounding their first hospitalization are reported.
Results: Participants in the SCMHP sample were generally young, were more often male, white, unmarried, and were approximately evenly distributed across high, medium, and low SES. Despite the even spread across SES, a little less than half did not have any health insurance. They had significant mental health needs with elevated positive, negative, and depressive symptoms, and more than half met criteria for lifetime diagnosis of alcohol and/or substance abuse. DUP ranged from 0 to 8509 days with a median of 35 and mean of 600, and almost two thirds reported accessing some type of outpatient services before first hospitalization. Participants were more often accompanied to the hospital by family and friends than police or EMS; were more often hospitalized involuntarily; and were more often hospitalized due to bizarre or disturbing behavior than self-injurious or aggressive/violent behavior.
Implications: This poster provides a first look at pathways to care for FEP across different ethnicities in the US. Beginning with this descriptive information, FEP researchers may develop theoretical frameworks in order to test hypotheses regarding FEP pathways to care in the US.