Outcome in children's day treatment: relationship to preadmission variables.

Outcome in children's day treatment has been studied infrequently. There is little information available to suggest which types of children may or may not benefit from day treatment services. In an earlier study, Gabel et al. (1988) found that preadmission factors related to parental/family dysfunction (i.e., suspected child abuse/maltreatment and parental substance abuse) and preadmission factors related to child dysfunction (i.e., suicidality and severe aggressive/destructive behavior) correlated with poor outcome in day treatment by the criterion of a recommended out-of-home placement on discharge. Of these factors, severe aggressive/destructive behavior was most important in predicting outcome. In this study, discharges from two additional centers were reviewed to determine if these findings could be generalized. There is support for the earlier results when the three centers' discharges are considered as a whole but not when the two new centers' discharges are considered separately. Reasons for these findings are discussed. Further study of these preadmission variables, especially severe aggressive/destructive behavior, as possible predictors of poor outcome in children's day treatment, seems warranted.