title: Day clinic and inpatient psychotherapy of depression (DIP-D): qualitative results from a randomized controlled study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Depressive disorders are among the most common psychiatric disorders. For severely depressed patients, day clinic and inpatient settings represent important treatment options. However, little is known about patients' perceptions of the different levels of care. This study aimed to obtain an in-depth analysis of depressive patients' experiences of day clinic and inpatient treatment in a combined clinical setting.
  
  
  METHODS
  Following a randomized controlled trial comparing day clinic and inpatient psychotherapy for depression (Dinger et al. in Psychother Psychosom 83:194-195, 2014), a sample of depressive patients (n = 35) was invited to participate in a semi-structured interview during an early follow up 4 weeks after discharge. A qualitative analysis of interview transcripts was performed following the principles of constructivist thematic analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Following analysis, 1355 single codes were identified from which five main categories and 26 themes were derived for both groups. In regard to patient group integration and skill transfer to everyday life, distinct differences could be observed between the day clinic and inpatient group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  While adjustment to therapeutic setting and patient group integration seem to be facilitated by inpatient treatment, the day clinical setting appears to promote treatment integration into patients' everyday contexts, aiding treatment-related skill transfer to everyday life as well as alleviating discharge from clinic treatment. Further studies on depressive subject groups in day clinic and inpatient treatment should investigate aspects of group cohesion and treatment integration in relation to therapeutic outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Thibautstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nikendei
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Thibautstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Mirjam
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haitz
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Thibautstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Thibautstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Johannes C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Ehrenthal
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Thibautstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Thibautstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Henning
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Schauenburg
authors.affiliation: Department of General Internal Medicine and Psychosomatics, Centre for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, Thibautstrasse 2, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrike
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dinger
keywords: Day clinic psychotherapy; Depression; Inpatient psychotherapy; Qualitative research