Effect of time-limited psychotherapy on patient dropout rates.
The authors conducted an archival study of 149 new clinic patients at a large community mental health center. The dropout rate for patients in brief psychotherapy in which the length of therapy was specified at the outset of treatment (time-limited psychotherapy) (32%) was about one-half the dropout rate for patients in brief (67%) and long-term (61%) individual psychotherapy. The difference in dropout rates could not be explained by patient demographic or diagnostic variables or by therapist characteristics measured in the study. The results suggest that setting a specific time limit on individual psychotherapy at the outset of treatment can reduce the patient dropout rate in a public mental health clinic.
Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT.
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Sledge
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Moras
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Hartley
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Levine
D000553:Ambulatory Care; D003155:Community Mental Health Centers; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief / Q000379:methods*; D013997:Time Factors