Implications
Generally, most adults living with mental illness have difficulty adjusting to the community after psychiatric hospitalization. Present findings assist in guiding where specific efforts might be placed by identifying the key sources of stress that appear to be challenging to patients transitioning to the community. Study results underscored a relative tendency to use emotion-based coping strategies in this sample (especially among females). Implications point to the potential benefit of emphasizing problem-focused coping skills. Psychosocial interventions to enhance coping ability and social support can reduce symptom severity and improve overall level of functioning (Pilling et al., 2002). Timing of access to coping skills intervention is an important consideration in that patients are likely to be unreceptive during challenging phases such as transition, but are likely to be amenable to such intervention after stabilization.