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An Evaluation of Hospital In-patient Treatment in Adolescent School Phobia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Ian Berg
Affiliation:
Leeds Area Health Authority (Teaching) and Yorkshire Regional Health Authority
Dorothy Fielding
Affiliation:
Leeds Area Health Authority (Teaching), Department of Psychiatry, University of Leeds, 15 Hyde Terrace, Leeds 2

Summary

Thirty-two school-phobic youngsters of mean age 13 years were randomly allocated to two treatment groups after stratifying for sex. Length of in-patient management in a psychiatric hospital unit for young adolescents was evaluated. One group was admitted for three months and the other for six. Care was taken to ensure that cases had been fairly distributed between the groups by comparing them on a variety of clinical features. Follow-up assessments were carried out in a reliable fashion at six months, one year and two years after discharge. Outcome, overall, was similar to that found in a previous follow-up study for the same unit, in that symptoms of emotional disturbance and social impairment tended to persist in a considerable proportion of cases over the period of review. Length of stay in hospital did not affect outcome as far as the boys were concerned; the findings in relation to the girls was less certain and it seems likely that longer in-patient treatment improves outcome in school-phobic girls.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1978 

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