Dropping out from a specialized inpatient treatment for eating disorders: the perception of patients and staff.
Most studies of treatment drop-outs have focused on demographic and clinical patient characteristics as possible predictors. To get a better insight in the meaning of dropping-out from therapy, during 1 year the viewpoints of patients and staff were compared in each case (N = 21 or 15.2%) of premature termination of an inpatient treatment program for eating disorders. Both patients and staff were reporting as important reasons of drop-out: not enough freedom, treatment being too difficult, and lack of trust. Contrary to the staff, patients were more often satisfied with the therapy and therefore did not expect further benefit in continuing the inpatient treatment. The findings are discussed mainly within the context of patient-staff interaction. The authors propose to abandon the term "drop-out" because of its negative connotation.
Vandereycken
Walter
W
Eating Disorders Unit, Alexian Brothers Psychiatric Hospital, Tienen, Belgium. walter.vandereycken@ppw.kuleuven.be
Devidt
Katrien
K
D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients / Q000523:psychology*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010465:Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016312:Treatment Refusal