Hopelessness and Psychiatric Symptomatology in Hospitalized Physically Ill Adolescents

Abstract

This study compares scores on psychiatric disturbance and hopelessness in two adolescent samples. The one sample was a physically ill hospitalized group, and the other was a matched group of healthy control subjects. It was found that the hospitalized physically ill group scored significantly higher on both psychiatric disturbance and hopelessness than the healthy group. At six-month follow-up, the physically ill group's scores on psychiatric disturbance had declined significantly, but hopelessness scores remained significantly high. In line with other findings, this study suggests that insufficient clinical attention is paid to psychiatric symptoms in hospitalized physically ill patients, and that the high hopelessness scores after six months warrant clinical psychological evaluation.