[The social skills of long-term psychiatric patients--a challenge for nursing practice]

The social skills of long-term psychiatric patients were chosen as one of the subjects to be evaluated in a study of the results of a development programme carried out in the psychiatric hospitals of North Häme mental health care district in 1986-1988. Attention was paid to the patients' social skills, because earlier studies have shown that many long-term patients would be able to live outside institutions if they could manage their daily activities. Improving the patients' skills was regarded as a challenge for nursing practice. Their development was followed for a period of 18 months and the sample consisted of 121 patients and selected randomly from 12 wards. Every six months, the social skills of the patients were assessed separately by the nursing staff and the patients themselves. The patients' skills improved considerably in the course of the development programme, as intensive and systematic action was taken in the nursing unit to further their rehabilitation. However, the patients proved unable to maintain these newly acquired skills without constant support from the nursing staff or the community. The patients had a higher opinion of their skills than the nursing staff. In the development programme, this evaluation of social skills utilized to construct an individual rehabilitation plan for each patients.