Therapeutic Assessment With Child Inpatients

Area of Science:

• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Psychological Assessment
• Psychotherapy Engagement

Background:

• Therapeutic Assessment (TA) is a collaborative psychological assessment method.
• Evidence supports TA's effectiveness in enhancing psychotherapy motivation and engagement.
• No studies have assessed TA in child psychiatric inpatient settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review child and family TA structure.
• To identify challenges and risks of TA in short-term inpatient stays.
• To propose integrating TA into child psychiatric inpatient units to improve care quality and reduce rehospitalization.

Main Methods:

• Review of child and family TA principles.
• Analysis of challenges in short-term inpatient psychiatric settings.
• Presentation of three case examples using modified TA in a child psychiatric inpatient unit, integrating assessments into brief family interventions.

Main Results:

• Modified TA was successfully implemented in a child psychiatric inpatient unit.
• Case examples demonstrate the integration of TA assessments into brief family interventions.
• The approach showed potential for enhancing care quality and reducing rehospitalization risk.

Conclusions:

• Adapting TA for child psychiatric inpatient settings is feasible and beneficial.
• TA integration can improve patient motivation and engagement with psychotherapy.
• Suggestions for best practices in child psychiatric inpatient TA are provided.