Residential program for long-term hospitalized persons with mental illness in Japan: Randomized controlled trial.

Research on the merits of long-term group residences is inconclusive. The purpose of the present paper was to investigate the effects of supported group residence on the symptoms, social function, quality of life, general health quality, and the medical/psychiatric cost in Japan of a large number of psychiatric beds and long average length of stay. Patients were assessed every 6 months for 2 years using Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Katz Adjustment Scale, World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHO-QOL) and General Health Questionnaire 12-item version.

Medical cost analysis of family psychoeducation for schizophrenia.

Family psychoeducation has been shown to prevent the relapse of schizophrenia. However, whether medical costs are reduced by this approach remains uncertain. The subjects were patients with schizophrenia who lived with high-expressed emotion (EE) families and were at high risk of relapse.