School Re-Entry of Adolescent Patients Discharged from Psychiatric Hospital: One Step in Continuous Quality Improvement

Objective: School re-entry following hospitalization for psychiatric care has been reported as difficult for many adolescent patients. Continuous quality improvement initiatives may improve programming to enhance school re-entry experiences. The purpose for this study was to explore the school re-entry perspectives of the youth discharged from a psychiatric inpatient unit after implementing programs that patients previously identified as needed. Methods: A survey was administered to the youth about one month after discharge to gather their perspective of their school re-entry, along with self-rated resilience and stress. Results: Twenty-six youth (23%) participated in the post-discharge survey who reported a mean age of 15.6 years (SD 1.0), 77% identified as female, 13 (50%) provided very positive re-entry comments, eight (31%) reported moderately positive experiences, and five (19%) reported a very poor school re-entry. Mean perceived resilience (4.01, SD 0.6) and stress (3.42, SD 0.8) scores suggest youth thought they had good resilience and moderate stress. Conclusions: Most youth reported a good school re-entry. Considerable concerns remain for the 19% who reported a poor school re-entry who may benefit from specialized outpatient or day programming post-discharge before attempting a return to school. Future directions for research are provided.