Completed in 1995

The length of stay of patients residing at state psychiatric hospitals between 1984 and 1989 was examined using episode-level data from the Collaborative State Hospital Longitudinal Data Base. The analyses indicated that a small percentage of patients remain in state psychiatric hospitals for a long period of time. Factors that increase the likelihood that a patient will have a long length of stay include: being diagnosed with schizophrenia, re-admission, and being over the age of 35.