[Profile of adolescents with social withdrawal admitted to a partial hospitalization unit of Mental Health].
OBJECTIVE
To analyse the general characteristics of teenagers admitted to the Day Care Unit who fulfilled the criteria of social withdrawal, in order to implement a specific action plan within the existing resources for adolescents.


METHODS
In this retrospective descriptive observational study, data were collected from withdrawal adolescent teenagers admitted to the unit over the year 2008. The data analysed were personal variables, diagnostic assessment on discharge, IQ assessment and Scale for Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills and truancy.


RESULTS
Of the 76 adolescents admitted to the unit, a total of 33 teenagers with social isolation were included in this study (43%). They had an average age of 15 years, an equal distribution between sexes and with a stay in the Unit 33 days longer than the general population studied. The average intellectual quotient of the social isolation group did not exceed the lower zone of the Weschler Scale (<80), and they scored below 50 points in the Scale for Assessment of Communication and Interaction Skills.


CONCLUSIONS
The present research has enabled us to quantify the withdrawal phenomenon and some of its characteristics in a sample of adolescents admitted to the unit, in order to develop an interdisciplinary treatment program that allows us to address social withdrawal using a more holistic and effective approach.
Hospital de Día de Adolescentes, Centro de Salud Mental, Corporació Sanitària del Parc Taulí, Sabadell, Barcelona, España. hdatauli@live.com
Jordi
J
Torralbas-Ortega
Eloisa
E
Arias-Núñez
Joaquim
J
Puntí-Vidal
María Carmen
MC
Naranjo-Díaz
Jezabel
J
Palomino-Escrivá
D000293:Adolescent; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*