Perceived treatment difficulty and therapeutic alliance on an adolescent psychiatric hospital unit.

On an 8-bed adolescent psychiatric unit, 69 patients were rated over the course of more than one year [corrected]. A set of rating scales was used to determine the relationships of treatment and therapeutic alliance difficulties with staff ratings of patient qualities, family issues, and treatment outcome. Findings underscore the clinical relevance of treatment difficulty and therapeutic alliance in conceptualizing the therapeutic action of the hospital treatment.

A review of research on hospital treatment of children and adolescents.

Previous studies have revealed numerous problems that confront those researching the inpatient psychiatric treatment of children and adolescents. The author reviews studies that examine the diagnostic and clinical characteristics of these patients, and that attempt to evaluate and predict treatment outcome. She discusses problems related to measurement of and changes in functioning, the role of social and economic forces, and limitations of applied research.

Assessing difficulties in the hospital treatment of children and adolescents.

There are few studies of treatment difficulty with children and adolescents. The authors describe a preliminary phase of research in this area, specifically the development of a set of rating scales to assess factors in treatment difficulty, a study of interrater reliability, and factor analyses of the content of these scales. The next steps in this ongoing research project are outlined.

Factorial dimensions of the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist: replication and validation within a kindergarten sample.

The factor structure of the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist (RBPC) was examined in a large sample of suburban kindergarten children. Teacher-rated dimensions of Conduct Disorder, Attention Problems-Immaturity, Anxiety-Withdrawal, and Psychotic Behavior were closely replicated, and a new factor labeled Unmotivated-Isolated was also revealed. These principal components were consistent across gender and across subsamples of children differing as to risk status for learning failure.

Rorschach predictors of therapeutic outcome in a child psychiatric inpatient service.

This study tested the hypothesis that Rorschach indicators of psychological instability and perceptual sensitivity are predictive of therapeutic outcome in a child psychiatric inpatient service. Thirty-four children, matched for age, were divided into two groups, Improvers and Decliners, based on changes in behavioral problems over 60 days of hospitalization. The groups were not distinguishable by scores on intellectual tests, sex, or the initial quality or severity of psychological disturbance.