[Discharge in inpatient care. Results of a survey. Postscript to part III of the Berlin Deinstitutionalization Study]

42 percent long-term patients from the Berlin Deinstitutionalization Study sample have been discharged to full-time institutional settings.

The questionnaires of a mail-survey covered features of 58 different non-hospital full-time institutional settings and care for a group of 125 long-term mental patients.

The return rate was more than 70 percent. For 78 percent of the discharged former long-term inpatients the political goal of complete psychiatric care in the patient's home area has been reached, but only 20 percent live in smaller institutions of up to 40 places.

The significance of other data of the survey does not exceed that of stock-taking and certain indications because of the selective data and the limitations of the method. There is an urgent need for further research in examining the quality of non-hospital institutional care for psychiatric long-term patients.