PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J G Strachan

Publications and source records attributed to J G Strachan.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1989

Rehabilitation status--dysfunction and treatment outcome in a psychiatric day hospital.

Two groups of patients representing the common objectives of Day Hospitals, namely steady progress and maintenance in the community, were studied. The Morningside Rehabilitation Scale was used to measure dependency, inactivity, isolation and the effects of current symptoms on the patient's life-style. Small but significant changes including in some cases crucial changes which involve working capacity were observed. There is discussion on the value of standardised measurement and the expression of results in terms of levels of functioning. The effect on multi-professional communication and on the possibilities of comparison and planning of services is discussed.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1989

Early experience in the establishment of an integrated psychiatric day hospital.

This paper describes the development of a new day-care provision for psychiatric patients. A purpose-built psychiatric day hospital was established in 1986 at the Royal Victoria Hospital, Edinburgh. A description is given of the first two years of operation. The unit's aim, to integrate treatment of both long-term and acute patients, has been successfully maintained after two years. Patient progress was assessed using the Morningside Rehabilitation Status Scale (MRSS). A problem area identified was that of patients who would not engage with the day hospital.

Day Care, Medical↗
PubMed1986

Use of psychiatric drug treatment services by heroin users from general practice.

Centres for the treatment of drug abusers are often integrated with regional psychiatric hospitals and are the focus of the British response to opiate addiction. Little is known, however, about the use made of these services by drug users in the community or about the success of these services. This study examined the use made of one centre offering a detoxification service by a cohort of 183 heroin users from a large Scottish general practice. Over half of this cohort were referred to the psychiatric drug treatment service, but less than one third started treatment. The evidence did not indicate that patients who had extended contact with the psychiatric service showed prolonged abstinence, though methodological difficulties necessitate further prospective studies. This study raises important questions about the value and appropriateness of this type of service in the light of the pattern of voluntary remission and relapse displayed by heroin users and in the absence of adequate provision for drug abusers in the community.

Heroin↗
PubMed1981

Conspicuous firesetting in children.

The records of 79 children whose firesetting led to referral to a Children's Hearing (the Scottish equivalent of a juvenile court) were examined. All but one of the children were boys. They had very disturbed backgrounds, with much family disruption and absent or unemployed fathers. Firesetting was predominantly a group activity and the damage caused was extensive. Although the children frequently engaged in other offences, in over 90 per cent there was no recurrence of reported firesetting within the limited period of possible follow-up.

Adolescent↗