Psychiatric day hospital treatment of terminally ill patients.

The psychiatric Day Hospital offers a forum for working out bereavement issues of terminally ill patients. Through individual and group psychotherapy, patients and their families are assisted in coping with the issues of death and dying. Coordination of medical, surgical, and psychiatric treatment of dying patients is enhanced by Day Hospital educational and treatment programs which afford continuity of care at the interface area between treatment specialties.     

Research on day treatment programs for preschoolers with disruptive behavior disorders

OBJECTIVE: This review examined the literature on psychosocial treatments for preschoolers with disruptive behavior disorders to delineate ways in which interventions developed in research settings can be used to enhance existing clinical preschool day treatment programs. METHODS: A PsycINFO search was performed by using the keywords "day treatment," "behavior problems," "disruptive behavior disorder," and "oppositional defiant disorder" to find articles published between 1974 and 2004 on randomized controlled trials of psychosocial interventions for preschoolers (ages two to five years). No randomized controlled trials of multimodal day treatment programs were found. Therefore, studies on multimodal day treatment were selected on the basis of whether they presented quantitative outcome data. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Little research was available on the effectiveness of day treatment programs, despite the programs' prevalence as a treatment modality for disruptive preschoolers. In contrast, many interventions in the disruptive behavior disorder research have not made their way into clinical practice. Preschool day treatment programs may be enhanced by improving access to care, emphasizing social problem-solving skills, and using strategies to engage families in treatment. Research studies on existing day treatment programs are needed to clarify the role of these programs in child psychiatry clinics and to shed light on optimal methods of service delivery.     

Psychosocial therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder

Immediately after experiencing a traumatic event, many people have symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). If trauma victims restrict their routine and systematically avoid reminders of the incident, symptoms of PTSD are more likely to become chronic. Several clinical studies have shown that programs of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) can be effective in the management of patients with PTSD. Prolonged exposure (PE) therapy-a specific form of exposure therapy-can provide benefits, as can stress inoculation training (SIT) and cognitive therapy (CT). PE is not enhanced by the addition of SIT or CT. PE therapy is a safe treatment that is accepted by patients, and benefits remain apparent after treatment programs have finished. Nonspecialists can be taught to practice effective CBT. For the treatment of large numbers of patients, or for use in centers where CBT has not been routinely employed previously, appropriate training of mental health professionals should be performed. Methods used for the dissemination of CBT to nonspecialists need to be modified to meet the requirements of countries affected by the Asian tsunami. This will entail the use of culturally sensitive materials and the adaptation of training methods to enable large numbers of mental health professionals to be trained together.     

Awareness of warning symptoms and risk factors of stroke in the general population and in survivors stroke.

Awareness among the general population of the risk factors and warning symptoms of stroke is essential for preventative purposes and for immediate effective treatment. The aim of the present study was to assess the awareness, among the general population and stroke survivors, of the risk factors and warning symptoms of stroke, to develop an educational strategy for its prevention and immediate effective treatment. Six hundred and sixty stroke patients (370 male, 290 female) and 4000 people from the general population who accompanied the patients (2800 male, 1200 female) were interviewed, using three sets of questionnaires, on the risk factors and warning symptoms of stroke. Poor knowledge or awareness of the risk factors and warning symptoms of stroke was found in both groups. Both groups suggested educational programs for stroke using printed information, audiovisual programs and community survey programs using simple and understandable information for the prevention and immediate effective treatment of stroke. Poor awareness of stroke contributes to a delay in the arrival of patients in hospital emergency departments for immediate effective treatment. Multifaceted programs regarding stroke, including printed information, audiovisual programs and stroke service programs, are advocated by both patients and the general population to improve stoke treatment and prevention.     

Improving the care for depression in patients with comorbid medical illness

OBJECTIVE: The authors compared treatment and outcomes for depressed primary care patients with and without comorbid medical conditions and assessed the impact of quality improvement programs for these patients. METHOD: The study group included 1,356 patients with major depression, dysthymia, or subthreshold depression from 46 managed primary care clinics. Clinics were randomly assigned depression treatment programs consisting of usual care for depression or one of two quality improvement programs for depression. The quality improvement programs included training experts and nurse specialists to provide education and assessment, plus access to nurse specialists for medication follow-up or access to psychotherapists. Outcomes were assessed at 6 and 12 months. RESULTS: At 6- and 12-month follow-up, the likelihood of having a probable depressive disorder was higher, but the rates of use of antidepressant medication and specialty counseling were similar, for depressed patients with comorbid medical disorders than for depressed patients who did not have comorbid medical disorders. Among the depressed patients with comorbid medical disorders, the combined quality improvement programs resulted in greater use of antidepressant medications and psychotherapy and lower rates of probable depressive disorders at both 6- and 12-month follow-up than did the usual care depression treatment program. CONCLUSIONS: Depressed patients with comorbid medical disorders tend to have similar rates of treatment but worse depression outcomes than depressed patients without comorbid medical illness. Quality improvement programs for depression can improve treatment rates and outcomes for depressed primary care patients with comorbid medical illness. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for clinical practice.     

Increased effectiveness of substance abuse treatment. A prospective study of patient-treatment "matching"

An earlier study retrospectively evaluated the effectiveness of six separate substance abuse treatment programs and generated a set of hypotheses for matching patients to the most appropriate programs. In the present study, these predictors and the matching strategy were tested in a prospective design, using the same treatment programs and a new sample of 130 alcohol- and 256 drug-dependent patients. The new group of patients who were treated in their predicted program (matched patients) were compared with those patients from the same sample who were not treated in their predicted program (mismatched patients). Treatment staff were not apprised of the matching criteria or which patients were matched, thus permitting an experimental test of the predictions. Results indicated superior performance during treatment and an average of 19 per cent better 6-month outcomes for the matched patients than for their mismatched counterparts. The matching effect was seen in both the alcohol- and drug-dependent samples and in all treatment programs. The authors discuss the application of these findings to other types of patients and treatments in substance abuse and other fields of psychiatry.     

A national evaluation of treatment outcomes for cocaine dependence.

BACKGROUND: This national study focused on posttreatment outcomes of community treatments of cocaine dependence. Relapse to weekly (or more frequent) cocaine use in the first year after discharge from 3 major treatment modalities was examined in relation to patient problem severity at admission to the treatment program and length of stay. METHODS: We studied 1605 cocaine-dependent patients from 11 cities located throughout the United States using a naturalistic, nonexperimental evaluation design. They were sequentially admitted from November 1991 to December 1993 to 55 community-based treatment programs in the national Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Studies. Included were 542 patients admitted to 19 long-term residential programs, 458 patients admitted to 24 outpatient drug-free programs, and 605 patients admitted to 12 short-term inpatient programs. RESULTS: Of 1605 patients, 377 (23.5%) reported weekly cocaine use in the year following treatment (dropping from 73.1% in the year before admission). An additional 18.0% had returned to another drug treatment program. Higher severity of patient problems at program intake and shorter stays in treatment (<90 days) were related to higher cocaine relapse rates. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with the most severe problems were more likely to enter long-term residential programs, and better outcomes were reported by those treated 90 days or longer. Dimensions of psychosocial problem severity and length of stay are, therefore, important considerations in the treatment of cocaine dependence. Cocaine relapse rates for patients with few problems at program intake were most favorable across all treatment conditions, but better outcomes for patients with medium- to high-level problems were dependent on longer treatment stays.     

Substance abuse day treatment and managed health care

Day treatment for substance abusers has been viewed by many as a viable treatment modality, particularly in light of the success of psychiatric day treatment programs. The available research also supports the efficacy of day treatment versus inpatient treatment for substance abusers. Nevertheless, day treatment programs for substance abusers have had difficulty gaining acceptance with treatment providers and patients alike. This paper offers several explanations for this lack of acceptance and proposes that managed care settings are ideally suited to pioneer substance abuse day treatment programs. Practical suggestions will also be offered to help market this treatment modality and minimize patient resistance.     

Training psychiatrists to diagnose and treat substance abuse disorders

Addiction training in psychiatric residency programs needs expansion. Epidemiology research has shown that patients with substance use disorders and co-occurring mental health disorders are the norm in nearly all clinical settings. Unfortunately, traditional training approaches built around brief rotations on detoxification or intensive substance abuse rehabilitation units do not adequately train psychiatrists in long-term management skills, and may reinforce misperceptions that these patients do not respond to treatment. An enhanced addiction curriculum coupled with an extended outpatient clinic rotation is an ideal model for teaching the skills needed to successfully care for these patients. Training must include an adequate knowledge base, an opportunity to cultivate positive attitudes toward these patients, and recognition that psychiatrists must take responsibility for treating the addiction problem and any co-occurring psychiatric disorders. The program developed at Boston University Medical Center successfully integrates expanded addiction psychiatry training into the general psychiatry residency.     

Community treatment environments. Patient vs. staff evaluations

Five New York City partial hospitalization programs serving chronic patients in acute phases of distress were examined. Patient and staff perceptions of their programs were compared and related to their evaluations of the programs. Although both patients and staff reported positive assessments of the help provided by the programs, they had different views regarding which elements or aspects of the programs were most helpful. Patients experienced a greater sense of being helped when the emotional climate of the program was highly evaluated, when the staff had been clear about the program goals and expectations, and when personal problems were not scrutinized. Staff felt that the most important program ingredients were the actual treatment elements dealing with personal and practical problems. The influence of the differing frames of reference of patients and staff are discussed regarding the orientation of community treatment programs for chronic psychiatric patients.     

Remission of psychiatric symptoms among drug misusers after drug dependence treatment

The study investigates changes in psychiatric symptoms after drug dependence treatment, and relationships between pretreatment problems, illicit drug use, treatment retention, and changes in psychiatric symptoms. The sample comprised 662 drug-dependent adults recruited at admission to treatment in residential rehabilitation programs (15 agencies) or outpatient methadone treatment (16 methadone maintenance programs and 15 methadone reduction programs). Using a longitudinal, prospective cohort design, data were collected by structured interviews at intake to treatment and at 1-month and 6-month follow-ups. Reductions were found in a range of psychiatric symptoms after admission to drug dependence treatment and among patients treated in outpatient and in residential programs. These reductions occurred rapidly (during the first month) and were maintained at subsequent follow-up. At intake to treatment, 39% of the residential sample met criteria for psychiatric caseness. This figure dropped to 3% at both 1-month and 6-month follow-up. Among methadone patients, 15% met criteria for psychiatric caseness at intake, and this dropped to 5% at 1 month and 3% at 6 months. Improvement in psychiatric symptoms was positively related to treatment retention. Some of the psychiatric symptoms presented by drug-dependent patients at admission to treatment are associated with drug misuse and show rapid remission after substance misuse treatment.     

Relationship between drug treatment services, retention, and outcomes

OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal study conducted path analyses to examine the relationships between treatment processes and outcomes among patients in community-based drug treatment programs. METHODS: A total of 1,939 patients from 36 outpatient drug-free and residential treatment programs in 13 California counties were assessed at intake, discharge, three months after admission, and nine months after admission. Path analyses were conducted to relate the quantity and quality of services that were received in the first three months of treatment to treatment retention and outcomes at the nine-month follow-up. Patients were determined to have a favorable outcome if for at least 30 days before the follow-up assessment they did not use drugs, were not involved in criminal activity, and lived in the community. The path analyses controlled for patients' baseline characteristics. RESULTS: Greater service intensity and satisfaction were positively related to either treatment completion or longer treatment retention, which in turn was related to favorable treatment outcomes. Patients with greater problem severity received more services and were more likely to be satisfied with treatment. These patterns were similar for patients regardless of whether they were treated in outpatient drug-free programs or residential programs. CONCLUSIONS: The positive association between process measures-that is, greater levels of service intensity, satisfaction, and either treatment completion or retention-and treatment outcome strongly suggests that improvements in these key elements of the treatment process will improve treatment outcomes.     

Evaluation of Expanded School Mental Health Programs

Expanded school mental health programs provide a full range of mental health services (assessment, treatment, case management, prevention) to youth in regular and special education, and typically involve close collaboration between schools and community agencies. A major challenge for these programs is documenting that provided services are of high quality and leading to enhanced outcomes for the youth and schools served by them. Dimensions of school mental health evaluations and a step-by-step process for conducting them are presented, using the example of a well established program in Baltimore. Challenges to such evaluation and strategies for overcoming challenges are also presented.     

Treatment of the borderline patient in partial hospitalization

Current reimbursement trends are forcing a search for less expensive alternatives to hospitalization for the mentally ill. Much of the literature on the treatment of patients with severe borderline personality disorders has focused on inpatient treatment, often on the pros and cons of long-term versus short-term programs. Little has been written about the treatment of patients with borderline disorders in partial hospitalization programs. This paper emphasizes the usefulness of such a setting and describes its staffing, program components, and approaches for intensive reconstructive treatment. Special emphasis is placed on admission and discharge boundaries, careful coordination of treatment, and crisis management.     

Outcomes of four treatment approaches in community residential programs for patients with substance use disorders

OBJECTIVE: Treatment approaches used in community residential facilities for patients with substance use disorders were identified, and patients' participation in treatment and case-mix-adjusted one-year outcomes for substance use, symptoms, and functioning in facilities with different treatment approaches were examined. METHODS: A total of 2,376 patients with substance use disorders treated in a representative sample of 88 community residential facilities were assessed at entry to and discharge from the facility and at one-year follow-up. The community residential facilities were classified into four types based on the major emphasis of the treatment program: therapeutic community, psychosocial rehabilitation, 12-step, and undifferentiated. RESULTS: Patients in programs that used the therapeutic community, psychosocial rehabilitation, and 12-step approaches had comparable one-year outcomes in symptoms and functioning that were better than those of patients in undifferentiated programs. A more directed treatment orientation, a longer episode of care, and completion of care were independently related to better one-year outcomes. These findings held for patients with only substance use disorders and for patients with both substance use and psychiatric disorders. CONCLUSIONS: Community residential programs that have a more directed treatment orientation and that motivate patients to complete treatment have better substance use outcomes. As an increasingly important locus of specialized care, community residential facilities need to develop and maintain more differentiated and distinctive treatment orientations.     

The carrott and the stick: Inducing local programs to serve long-term patients

Both financial and philsophical considerations have led to the dramatic shift in California of longterm patients from state hospitals to the community. Unfortunately local mental health programs frequently give low priority to the severely and chronically mentally ill. The state chose not only to engage in the wholesale discharge of patients from state hospitals but also to provide a number of financial inducements and penalties to motivate local programs to serve these patients. Although there have been many problems, local programs have developed a wide range of community treatment and rehabilitation programs for longterm patients.     

Pentavalent treatment: preliminary effects on state hospital utilization

The purpose of this exploratory study was to determine if a low-cost alternative to assertive community treatment (ACT) programs could achieve results comparable to those previously reported by high-fidelity ACT programs with regard to state hospital utilization by patients with long-term, treatment-refractory serious mental illness and high rates of hospital recidivism. A sample of 30 patients was exposed to a low- cost alternative to ACT for a 12-month period. A quasi-experimental research design was used to compare state hospital utilization by the treatment group and a matched comparison group. The treatment group exhibited significantly less state hospital utilization than the comparison group and had an 88% reduction in state hospital utilization in comparison to its 10-year baseline. Low cost alternatives to ACT programs may be as effective as high-fidelity programs in reducing state hospital utilization and may be more easily adaptable to the current structure, operation, and financial constraints of community mental health centers.     

An evaluation of drug treatments for adolescents in 4 US cities.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about outcomes of community-based treatment programs for adolescents with drug problems. METHODS: We studied 1167 adolescents (age range, 11-18 years; 368 females, 799 males) from 4 US cities (Pittsburgh, Pa; Minneapolis, Minn; Chicago, Ill; and Portland, Ore) using a naturalistic, nonexperimental evaluation design. These adolescents were consecutive admissions during the period from 1993 to 1995 at 23 community-based treatment programs in the Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Studies for Adolescents. Included were 418 admissions to 8 residential programs, 292 admissions to 9 outpatient drug-free programs, and 457 admissions to 6 short-term inpatient programs. RESULTS: Adolescents in treatment typically had multiple problems (eg, 58.4% of them were involved in the legal system, and 63.0% met diagnostic criteria for a mental disorder). Nevertheless, less than half (43.8%) of all patients reported weekly marijuana use in the year following treatment (dropping from 80.4% in the year before admission). Similarly, there were decreases in heavy drinking (dropping from 33.8% to 20.3%), use of other illicit drugs (dropping from 48.0% to 42.2%), and criminal involvement (dropping from 75.6% to 52.8%). Additionally, patients reported better psychological adjustment and school performance after treatment. Longer stays in treatment were positively associated with several favorable outcomes, although length of time in treatment was generally short. CONCLUSIONS: Substance abuse treatment for adolescents is effective in achieving many important behavioral and psychological improvements. Strategies specific to adolescents to improve their treatment retention and completion are needed to maximize the therapeutic benefits of drug treatment.     

New directions in research on assertive community treatment

Evaluation of assertive community treatment programs has demonstrated that they are highly effective in reducing the need for psychiatric hospitalization of chronic mentally ill patients. However, the programs also tend to cost more than traditional outpatient care, and their impact on other areas of patient functioning is not clear. The authors believe more rigorous studies of the programs are needed before policymakers can properly evaluate their role in the overall mix of services. Future studies should extend previous research by comparing the programs to current state-of-the-art treatment in community mental health centers or county mental health programs; assessing the total system costs of assertive community treatment programs, as well as the amount of cost shifting by payers; analyzing outcomes of clients in mature programs over longer time periods; standardizing the measurement of various client outcomes; and determining the impact of individual program elements--alone and in combination--on different subgroups of clients.     

Comparison of outcomes of acute care in short-term residential treatment and psychiatric hospital settings

OBJECTIVE: The study compared the demographic and diagnostic characteristics of clients and the outcomes of treatment in five short-term acute residential treatment programs and two acute hospital-based psychiatric programs. METHODS: A total of 368 clients in the short-term acute residential treatment programs and 186 clients in the psychiatric hospital programs participated in an observational study. The study used a repeated-measures design and assessed participants on multiple standardized measures of symptoms and functioning at admission, discharge, and four-month follow-up. Comparisons between the two groups were conducted separately by diagnostic category. Measures included the Brief Symptom Inventory, the Behavior and Symptom Identification Scale-32, the Medical Outcomes Short-Form-36, and the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8. RESULTS: The two types of programs admit persons with similar levels of acute distress who have comparable levels of improvement at discharge and an equivalent degree of short-term stability of treatment gains. Costs of treatment episodes were considerably lower for the short-term residential programs, and client satisfaction with the two types of programs was comparable. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term acute residential treatment is a less costly yet similarly effective alternative to psychiatric hospitalization for many voluntary adult patients.