Combining day patient treatment with family work in a child psychiatry clinic

Summary The 81 youngsters who began attending a day treatment programme within a 1-year period were assessed using an interval design. The children ranged in age from 18 months to 16 years and attended with similarly aged children for 1 day a week. The treatment programme combined family therapy with the day unit's milieu therapy and specific individual treatment programmes for the child. The results indicate that the combination of a 1 day a week attendance and family therapy had a significant clinical impact upon the problems. The pattern of improvement observed would suggest that the day-unit attendance made a unique contribution to the overall outcome.