A naturalistic assessment of partial-hospital treatment

Three hundred fifty-eight consecutive admissions to 13 partial hospitals were evaluated over an 8-month period. The design of the study focused on an unobstrusive measurement process involving clinical judgment of outcome. Analyses revealed that the clinical judgment process generated data which were both reliable and valid. The results of the study indicate that partial-hospital treatment is most effective for chronic and acute schizophrenic conditions, paranoid schizophrenia, and affective disorders and least so far patients diagnosed as adjustment disorders. Patients in the organic and neurotic diagnostic categories tended to remain stable. As in previous research, the pretreatment levels of the dependent variables were the best predictors of improvement, but the present study also reveals that progressive amounts of partial-hospital treatment lead to a greater improvement in patient functioning.