Aggressive children in a day treatment program: changed outcome and possible explanations.

An earlier study (Gabel, Finn & Ahmad, 1988) of severely disturbed children treated in a day hospital program, found that outcome was particularly poor for children with preadmission histories of severe aggressive/destructive behavior. The study reported here compares the outcome in a more recent group of children treated in the same setting with the earlier group's outcome. The recent group of children, like the earlier one, was made up of youngsters who were often from dysfunctional and abusive families. Outcome for aggressive children, including aggressive children with histories of suspected child abuse/maltreatment, was significantly improved. Possible reasons for this improvement in outcome in terms of programmatic changes that had occurred are discussed.