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The research problem in this qualitative, pilot study explores a child's impressions of hospitalization while in hospital. / Nine children who were in-patients on a pediatric unit of an acute care hospital were interviewed using a semi-structured, self-constructed questionnaire. / The principal finding indicates that these children experienced a neutral emotional response to their hospitalization. Although the subjects were chosen randomly, all children resided in two parent families. This may be a significant factor in enhancing their ability to master hospitalization. Second, their neutral impression of hospitalization may be based on receiving a reasonable level of health care in a child centred environment with support from family.

The purpose of the study was to explore the relationship between schizophrenic patients' length of stay in a state psychiatric hospital and readily available intrapersonal, interpersonal, and sociodemographic factors. The factors selected for study were:1. Admission Legal Basis2. Relationship of Responsible Person3. Previous Episodes of Hospitalization 4. Sex5. Admission Age. 6. Marital Status7. Race8. Education9. DiagnosisThe subjects were 461 patients admitted to the Richmond, Indiana State Hospital from July 1, 1974 to June 30, 1979. All patients who met the criteria for selection were included.The design for the study was the ex post facto approach. It was essentially a Design 3 situation using only one group and holding to the assumption of random distribution of nonmanipulated variables. Two null hypotheses were tested using stepwise hierarchical multiple regression. The .05 level of significance was required.FindingsThe multiple regression analysis yielded a significant multiple correlation (R = .26, R2 = .07, P <.05) between length of stay as the dependent variable and the composite predictor variable. However, an inspection of the results showed that Admission Legal Basis was the only variable found to be individually significant. In view of the low amount (7%) of variance explained by the composite predictor variable, the analysis was terminated at that point and the results were not interpreted or considered to have a practical use.ConclusionThe only conclusion made was that the results of this study were inconclusive due to the small percentage of variance explained. Thus it was hypothesized that there were factors which remained unidentified that were in operation and greatly influenced length of stay.

One thousand four hundred and twenty two patients in an Acute General Hospital in Mansfield were studied over a one year period, 1989-90, in order to determine their needs for formal and informal care on discharge. The research method included a screening project for 189 patients on admission, an analysis of 1064 referrals to the Hospital Social Workers, and 169 referrals to the Hospital Discharge Scheme for Volunteer support. Patient/client needs for formal and informal care were found, and unmet needs after Hospital discharge were identified. Problems relating to formal care systems and shortage of Public Sector resources were found to cause serious difficulties for patients and Carers. The availability of Carers and lack of family members in informal care structures was a key issue. The work showed how Volunteers from the Discharge Scheme were able to contribute to the work of formal and informal Carers and ensure that safe Hospital Discharges occurred for very vulnerable people.

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The sound environment in hospitals is complex. While there have been several studies that address the acoustic environment in hospitals, there is a limited amount of research done concerning the effect that noise has on staff. This thesis describes two related studies: 1) analysis of the relationships between acoustics and perceptual staff outcomes using an existing data set collected in real hospitals; 2) development of methodologies to test the relationships between acoustics and hospital staff task performance in a simulated laboratory setting. In the first study it was found that mental health and perception of noisiness were occupational factors that were related to the sound environment using a variety of acoustic metrics. Only a few acoustic metrics were shown to be statistically significant related to dependent variables in a direct correlation (e.g., as the acoustic conditions worsened the dependent variable also decreased). However, almost all acoustic metrics tested had a statistically significant relationship with mental health once subjective job strain was considered as a moderating factor. This means that while the direct impact of sound may not be immediately observable, sound may play a more significant role once subjective job strain is taken into account. In the second study, a new methodology was developed to directly relate staff task performance to noise and beta-tested on a single group of subjects. The methodology development included synthesizing a signal that was acoustically comparable to those heard in real hospitals in order to simulate a realistic noise exposure in a controlled environment. Additionally, objective methods of measuring performance and perception were devised by utilizing task performance scripts already validated in other studies and developing new surveys that could be administered to subjects to garner their perceived task performance and perceptions of the simulation room environment, including noise.

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