Assessment of hospital-related stress in children and adolescents admitted to a psychiatric inpatient unit

Problem: The assessment of hospital-related stressors experienced by child and adolescent patients on a psychiatric inpatient unit. Subjects: Child and adolescent inpatients IN = 40) admitted to an acute, short-term psychiatric unit. Methods: A newly developed stressor survey was administered to subjects to identify the most problematic stressors. Correlation analyses were used to assess associations between hospital-related stress and adjustment variables. Findings: Broad domains and specific items of the most problematic hospital-related stressors were revealed. Also, higher levels of hospital-related stress were consistently associated with poorer hospitalbased adjustment. Conclusions: Implications for treatment include identifying hospital-related stressors for individual patients and providing interventions to enhance coping.