Assessment of acutely mentally ill patient outcomes in an ethnically diverse population

Hawaii's multi-ethnic population provides a special opportunity within the United States to examine relationships between ethnicity, mental illness, and psychiatric-mental health outcomes. Understanding such relationships is essential to facilitate the development of culturally sensitive intervention strategies. The aim of this study was to investigate if differences in patient outcomes exist between Caucasians, Asians and Pacific Islanders hospitalized for an acute psychiatric illness in Hawaii. A descriptive approach was used to examine the functional and mental health outcomes and perceptions of care of 138 subjects. The specific tools employed included the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), Short Form 36 Health Survey Version 2 (SF-36v2), Perceptions of Care (POC), and the Psychiatric Records Abstract Instrument (PRAI). In terms of results, the BPRS scores showed an expected improvement at the time of discharge when compared to the admission assessment.