['Treated and promoted or detained and left behind' - intensive psychiatric care of residents of a psychiatric hostel over seven years]

In this observational study indicators for the quality of psychiatric care in a psychiatric hostel will be examined for all residents over a period of 7 years.Data has been collected at an annual basis. Relationships among variables have been analysed by means of random effects regression analyses for longitudinal data.GAF score increases slightly. Number of psychopharmacological drugs and neuroleptics as well as inpatient costs remains stable. Psychiatric treatment costs are negatively related to the functional level, residents' age and the duration of stay in the residential facility. Even under control of several variables, variance of total costs was found to be mainly explained by the costs of inpatient and psychopharmacological treatment.Increase of the general functional level indicates a positive development of autonomy. Changes and the influence factors of psychopharmacological treatment may indicate a need-oriented drug therapy. Some findings may indicate an institutionalisation process and an increasing of medical conditions in chronically mentally ill people.