Expectations and satisfaction of social-psychiatric services regarding their collaboration with the psychiatric hospital

Objective: Collaboration with the psychiatric hospital should be investigated from the viewpoint of social-psychiatric services (SpDi). Methods: Based upon a content analysis of interviews with staff members of all social-psychiatric services working in the catchment area of a psychiatric hospital, a questionnaire was developed which consists 32 Items assessing expectations and satisfaction in 6-step Likert-type scales. Results: Response rate was 80% (n = 40). SpDi's staff express high expectations to psychiatric hospital. They assess good inpatient treatment, patient's information about treatment, SpDi's involvement in discharge planning, patient's attendance at SpDi's consulting in the hospital, and networking of psychiatric institutions to be very important. Differences between expectation and satisfaction especially refer to information of SpDi about client's admission, SpDi's involvement in discharge planning, and knowledge of hospital staff about social-psychiatric services. Conclusions: Evaluation of expectations and satisfaction of SpDi as an important partner of the psychiatric hospital allows conclusions for quality assurance of psychiatric care and offers concrete clues for a better collaboration at the interface of out-patient and in-patient care being advantageous for patients.