In-patient community meetings: problems and purposes.

The role of the in-patient community meeting is discussed in relation to the general difficulty of attributing specific effectiveness to any type of therapeutic activity on an in-patient service. Close scrutiny of such units demonstrates that staff and patients are composed of several heterogeneous subgroups, not all of whom share common attitudes and values or benefit from similar activities. Within this framework the major problems as well as functions of the community meeting are discussed. Specific questions which await investigation with clinical research are elaborated.