[The history of geriatric psychiatry at the University of Montreal: Pioneers, milestones, and future outlook].

Objectives: Geriatric psychiatry became an official psychiatric subspecialty in Canada in 2009. The first board examinations from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (RCPSC) took place in 2013. Geriatric Psychiatry focuses on the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of complex mental disorders in late life, a time when the interface between physical and mental health issues often adds a new level of complexity.

Adjustment to community residential settings over time among older adults with serious mental illnesses.

This exploratory cross-sectional study examined adjustment over time of three groups of seniors with serious mental illnesses (N=33), who were transferred from a psychiatric hospital to a community residential facility from 1995-1998. The study participants had lived in the community for 6-41 months. Outcomes included measures of global, social, cognitive and ADL functioning, quality of life and rehospitalizations.

Discharging older adults with a severe and chronic mental illness in the community.

In recent years, a deinstitutionalization movement has been occurring in Canadian psychiatric institutions. Occupational therapists, experts in evaluating occupational performance, are key contributors to the selection of appropriate community housing environments. This study describes the global functioning, performance in activities of daily living, social behavior, cognitive status, and quality of life of 33 older adults with a severe and chronic mental illness, who were transferred from a psychiatric hospital to community facilities between 1995 and 1998.