Residential versus day treatment for children: a long-term follow-up study

Adults and adolescents, who as children, received day or residential treatment were followed up ten years after treatment completion. No differences were found between the two treatment modalities on follow-up ratings of personal and social adjustment. This pattern was not influenced by gender, IQ, or presenting problem. Overall, about two-thirds of the children demonstrated improvement at follow-up. As expected, individuals demonstrating higher levels of personal and social adjustment at initial assessment were functioning better at outcome. However, the magnitude of therapeutic gain was not significantly different for mild versus moderate-to-severe presenting problems. Suggestions for future research are included.