Structure and predictors of in-hospital nursing care leading to reduction in early readmission among patients with schizophrenia in Japan: A cross-sectional study

Schizophrenia is a disorder characterized by psychotic relapses. Globally, about 15%–30% of patients with schizophrenia discharged from inpatient psychiatric admissions are readmitted within 90 days due to exacerbation of symptoms that leads to self-harm, harm to others, or self-neglect. The purpose of this study was to investigate the structure and predictors of in-hospital nursing care leading to reduction in early readmission among patients with schizophrenia. A new questionnaire was developed to assess the extent to which respondents delivered in-hospital nursing care leading to reduction in early readmission among patients with schizophrenia. This study adopted a cross-sectional research design. The survey was conducted with the new questionnaires. The participants were registered nurses working in psychiatric wards. Item analyses and exploratory factor analyses were performed using the new questionnaires to investigate the structure of in-hospital nursing care leading to reduction in early readmission. Stepwise regression analyses were conducted to examine the factors predicting in-hospital nursing care leading to reduction in early readmission. Data were collected from 724 registered nurses in Japan. In-hospital nursing care leading to reduction in early readmission was found to consist of five factors: promoting cognitive functioning and self-care, identifying reasons for readmission, establishing cooperative systems within the community, sharing goals about community life, and creating restful spaces. In-hospital nursing care leading to reduction in early readmission was predicted by the following variables: the score on the nursing excellence scale in clinical practice, the score on therapeutic hold, and the participation of community care providers in pre-discharge conferences. Japanese psychiatric nurses provide nursing care based on these five factors leading to reduction in early readmission. Such nursing care would be facilitated by not only nurses’ excellence but also nurses’ environmental factors, especially the therapeutic climate of the ward and the participation of community care providers in pre-discharge conferences.