“You don't give me flowers anymore”: an analysis of gift-giving to medical and psychiatric inpatients

Abstract

Background: If someone is admitted to hospital, it is customary for them to receive gifts from their friends and relatives. To assess the degree to which the mentally ill receive this type of support, this study set out to assess the level of gift-giving to the mentally ill compared with the physically ill during hospital admissions. Method: Subjects were 33 psychiatric and 23 medical female inpatients. Assessment was with a short interview on the subject of gifts received. Confounders were controlled for, in particular the number of family members who knew of the admission. Results: Medical patients received significantly more flowers: odds ratio 8.8 (95% confidence interval 1.6–64.2, P = 0.004); get-well-soon cards: OR 5.7 (95% CI 1.4–25.3, P = 0.006) and other gifts: OR 5.7 (95% CI 1.4–23.6, P = 0.004). Adjustment for the potential confounders did not significantly affect the associations. Conclusions: The results suggested that during hospital admissions, the behaviour of relatives and friends of mentally ill patients is rejecting. The authors suggest that more education for relatives may help to improve this picture.