Treatment Within an Adult Mental Health Day Program: Examining Psychosocial Outcomes

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Mental Health Services
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Day hospital programs offer crucial stabilization and therapeutic interventions for acute psychiatric conditions.
• These programs are integral to managing mental health crises within general acute care settings.
• Evaluating the effectiveness of these programs is essential for optimizing patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the treatment impact of an adult day hospital program in a Canadian general acute care hospital.
• To assess changes in psychopathology, disability, quality of life, and emotion regulation strategies.
• To identify specific therapeutic interventions or strategies associated with improved patient outcomes.

Main Methods:

• A naturalistic study design was employed with 196 adult patients admitted to a day hospital program.
• Validated psychometric measures were administered at admission and discharge, including PHQ-9, GAD-7, WHODAS 2.0, BASIS-24, Q-LES-Q-SF, and ERQ.
• Paired sample t-tests were used to analyze changes in patient-reported outcomes from admission to discharge.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements were observed in psychopathology, disability, and quality of life from admission to discharge.
• The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ) Suppression scale was the only measure showing no significant change.
• Increased use of the reappraisal emotion regulation strategy correlated with improvements in symptomatology, quality of life, and functionality.

Conclusions:

• Canadian adult day hospital programs are effective in improving patient psychopathology and reducing disability.
• The emotion regulation strategy of reappraisal plays a significant role in enhancing treatment outcomes.
• Therapeutic interventions within day hospital settings contribute to improved mental well-being and functionality.