Schinnar A P, Rothbard A B, Kanter R, Adams K
Department of Public Policy and Management, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 19104.
Hosp Community Psychiatry. 1990 Jul;41(7):756-60. doi: 10.1176/ps.41.7.756.
A federal law passed in 1986 required states to develop service plans incorporating each state's own definition of chronic mental illness. This study considered whether the state definitions can be used to identify comparable populations of chronic mentally ill patients and to obtain a meaningful national estimate of the number of such patients. The study applied definitions of chronic mental illness used in ten states to a representative sample of patients receiving public mental health services in West Philadelphia over a two-year period. The prevalence estimates of patients defined as chronically mentally ill ranged from 38 percent using the Hawaii definition to 72 percent using the Ohio definition. The National Institute of Mental Health definition, used as a reference point, produced a prevalence estimate of 55 percent. The authors conclude that the considerable variance among the states in prevalence estimates renders the sum of state counts of chronic mentally ill patients of limited use.
1986年通过的一项联邦法律要求各州制定服务计划，纳入每个州对慢性精神疾病的定义。本研究探讨了州定义是否可用于识别慢性精神病患者的可比人群，并获得对此类患者数量有意义的全国性估计。该研究将十个州使用的慢性精神疾病定义应用于西费城接受公共心理健康服务的患者的代表性样本，为期两年。被定义为慢性精神病患者的患病率估计范围从使用夏威夷定义的38%到使用俄亥俄州定义的72%。作为参考点的美国国家心理健康研究所的定义得出的患病率估计为55%。作者得出结论，各州在患病率估计方面的巨大差异使得各州慢性精神病患者数量的总和用途有限。
