Research Article

Continuing Care for Mentally Stable Psychiatric Patients in Primary Care: Patients' Preferences and Views

Table 1

Demographic and clinical characteristics of study population.

VariablesTotal
(%)

Gender
 Male75 (52%)
 Female70 (48%)
Age group
 ≤4575 (52%)
 ≥4670 (48%)
Marital status
 Single/divorced/separated/widowed36 (25%)
 Married/cohabiting109 (75%)
Formal educational background
 Primary48 (33%)
 Secondary62 (43%)
 Tertiary35 (24%)
Employment Status
 Employed45 (31%)
 Unemployed/retired100 (69%)
Registered with a GP practice
 Yes136 (94%)
 No9 (6%)
Has a medical card
 Yes84 (58%)
 No61 (42%)
Has private health insurance
 Yes26 (18%)
 No119 (82%)
Diagnosis patients’ have been informed they have
by psychiatrist*
 Depressive disorder81 (56%)
 Bipolar affective disorder22 (15%)
 Anxiety disorder61 (42%)
 Schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder16 (11%)
 Alcohol dependency syndrome9 (6%)
 Drug/polysubstance abuse6 (4%)
 Other disorder16 (11%)
 Not been told of diagnosis22 (15%)
Previous psychiatric inpatient treatment
 Yes83 (57%)
 No 62 (43%)
Medical comorbidity
 Yes41 (28%)
 No104 (72%)

ome patients have been told they have more than one diagnosis (comorbid disorders).