Measuring treatment outcome in a child and adolescent partial hospitalization program

Mental health practitioners are increasingly being called upon to evaluate the effectiveness of the treatment they provide. The partial hospitalization component of the mental health industry has also felt this call for outcome research. This article presents the results of assessments of treatment outcome at a child and adolescent partial hospitalization program. The research design was an effectiveness study, a type of clinical outcome evaluation. Subjects were evaluated at admission and discharge, using the Revised Behavior Problem Checklist. The article is intended both to demonstrate the effectiveness of a partial hospitalization program and to provide an example of program evaluation that is easy and inexpensive to administer.