title: The use of treatment contracts in short-term psychiatric care.
abstract: Two different treatment contracts, one with and one without active patient cooperation were compared during two 4-month periods on a short-term psychiatric ward. Attitudes and symptoms were measured at admission after 5 days and at discharge by an independent rater and by self-ratings. The length of stay was similar during the two periods. Patients with cooperation contracts showed a significantly larger reduction of anxiety compared with the others. Patients benefitting most from a cooperation contract were those with socio-psychological treatment contract objectives and those treated in a basic activation group. It is concluded that treatment contracts with an active patient cooperation on a short-term psychiatric ward are useful especially for patients not primarily suitable for specific psychotherapy or specific psychopharmacological treatment.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001290:Attitude; D003419:Crisis Intervention; D003704:Dementia / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008884:Milieu Therapy; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011379:Prognosis; D011567:Psychiatric Department, Hospital; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief / Q000379:methods*; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000628:therapy