How successful is inpatient treatment in child and adolescent psychiatry? Preliminary results of the Marburg Evaluation Project

Objectives: From 1999 to 2006, the inpatient treatment of a complete clinical sample in a child and adolescent psychiatric hospital was evaluated in a naturalistic effectiveness,study in order to obtain detailed information about the outcome of the therapies. Methods: The project was realized as a longitudinal 1-sample design with measurements at three points in time (admission assessment; discharge assessment and 6-week follow-up; 1(2)/(1) year follow-up). An essential part of the assessments was conducted using standardized telephone interviews with the parents of the inpatients. The project included 1,321 inpatients; the 1(2)/(1) year follow-up was accomplished for 776 cases. Results: In all repeated measurements, there were highly significant effects: The pre-post effect sizes were higher than 1. The effects which were achieved during inpatient treatment were stable over time with a slight improvement after treatment. The outcome of different diagnostic groups showed significant differences at the 1(2)/(1) year follow-up. Conclusions: The results should be used in the counselling of patients and their parents prior to starting therapy: It should be investigated whether the favourable results can be generalized for inpatient treatments in other hospitals of child psychiatry.