Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Int J Ment Health Nurs. 2010 Jun;19(3):177-85. doi: 10.1111/j.1447-0349.2009.00660.x.
Absconding is increasingly being recognized as a problem within mental health settings with significant risks for consumers. This study examines absconding behaviours across three acute care wards within an Australian psychiatric hospital campus over a 12-month period. A descriptive statistical analysis determined the rate of absconding from 49 consumers who absconded 64 times. The absconding rate was 13.33% (absconding events), with most absconding events arising from males diagnosed with schizophrenia (57.14%) aged between 20 and 29 years, and with 62.50% of absconding events occurring whilst consumers were on their first 21-day detention order. Nearly half of all absconding events were by consumers who had absconded previously, with the highest proportion of events occurring during nursing handover. A profile of people who abscond, time of day of absconding, legal status and repeated absconding behaviours are described. The emergent profile of consumers who absconded within this study bears some similarities to that described in overseas research, although in this study consumers were slightly older and 25% of absconders were female. Of particular interest are findings that identify the timings of absconding events in relation to a consumer's legal status. Implications for practice, including assessment of risk of absconding and management, are considered.
擅自离院行为在精神健康机构中日益受到关注，这对患者存在重大风险。本研究在澳大利亚一家精神病院的三个急症病房内，对为期 12 个月的擅自离院行为进行了考察。通过描述性统计分析，确定了 49 名擅自离院的患者发生 64 次擅自离院行为的比率。擅自离院率为 13.33%（擅自离院事件），大多数擅自离院事件发生在被诊断为精神分裂症的男性中（57.14%），年龄在 20 至 29 岁之间，62.50%的擅自离院事件发生在患者首次接受 21 天拘留令期间。近一半的擅自离院事件发生在以前擅自离院的患者身上，其中发生事件最多的是在护理交接班期间。本文描述了擅自离院者的个人资料、擅自离院时间、法律地位和反复擅自离院行为。本研究中擅自离院患者的典型特征与海外研究中描述的有一些相似之处，尽管在本研究中患者年龄稍大，25%的擅自离院者为女性。特别值得关注的是，研究结果确定了与消费者法律地位相关的擅自离院时间。本文还考虑了对实践的影响，包括对擅自离院风险的评估和管理。
