[Evaluation of a changed psychiatric treatment system--contributions to treatment research exemplified by Vienna].

On the basis of changes that occurred in Vienna, the implications of planned interventions into the total structure of the institutional psychiatric care is being investigated. By a simultaneous and concerted action in that 1.5 million city, the in-patient and out-patient areas have, with the aid of predefined goals, been regionalized and much improved in terms of equipment. The number of patients in the large mental hospitals dropped by 68.5 percent between 1976 and 1988. The new out-patient facilities were made use of by 1.09 percent of the population from 1980 to 1987. No serious negative developments have been recorded. The study shows that the defined goals have to a large extent been achieved. In spite of the evident backlog demand, the total costs of the institutional psychiatric care did not rise as much as the costs of the general in-patient medical care over the same period of time. Changes in psychiatric care are measurable, the influence of the institutions on "patient carriers" justifies the interest in care research.