Shirley Smoyak

Dr. Shirley Smoyak's current research interests include outcomes for children and adolescents, who have been hopitalized in a crisis intervention unit in New Jersey, and are the focus of a group research effort. Collaboration with the New Jersey division of Mental Health and Hospitals has been an integral part of the design. Factors being studied are diagnosis, age, gender, length of stay, behavior and family variable. 
As well as the deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill and the anomalies created in the mental health system. There are now patients in community settings who would be better served in institutions. On the other hand, there are still many patients in psychiatric hospitals who should be living in communities. This latter group, in New Jersey, is designated by the legal status, "Discharged, Pending Placement." Dr. Smoyak's aim is to understand the clinical, legal and political interrelationships in this patient population. The monitoring of mental hospitals has occurred by many methods, some informal and some legalistic.