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Biomedical subjects

G Pekarik

Publications and source records attributed to G Pekarik.

13 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1994

Effects of brief therapy training on practicing psychotherapists and their clients.

A ten hour brief therapy training program with format representative of postgraduate training workshops was delivered to practicing psychotherapists at three public clinics. Training procedures and content were specified and provided to program participants in a manual. Clinician volunteers (n = 22) were randomly assigned to Training (n = 12) and Control (n = 10) conditions. Pretraining assessments found no differences between Training and Control group therapists or their clients (n = 176). Relative to clients of Control therapists, Trained therapists' clients received more brief therapy, reported greater treatment satisfaction, had lower client-reported dropout rates, and obtained better therapist ratings of outcome. Possible causes of the training impact and its limitations were discussed.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Relationship of clients' reasons for dropping out of treatment to outcome and satisfaction.

Forty-nine adult drop-outs and parents of 37 child drop-outs were contacted 4 months after intake and asked why they terminated treatment. Outcome and satisfaction data also were obtained for these clients, 45 treatment completers, and 51 who were still in treatment. Problem improvement, environmental obstacles, and dissatisfaction with treatment were the reasons most often cited for dropping out. For adults, client measures indicated that "problem improved" drop-outs had superior outcome and satisfaction and that "dissatisfied" drop-outs had inferior outcome and satisfaction relative to other drop-out groups. For children, "dissatisfied" and "environmental obstacle" drop-outs had inferior outcome and satisfaction. Therapist ratings did not differ among dropout groups and were lower than those of completers and continuers.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1992

Posttreatment adjustment of clients who drop out early vs. late in treatment.

Symptom improvement from intake until 4 months later was assessed for 33 adult and 35 child psychotherapy drop-outs. Client ratings, therapist ratings, and symptom checklist changes were used as measures. Early drop-outs (one or two visits) were less well adjusted than late drop-outs (three or more visits) for both adults and children, though the difference was stronger for adults. Few differences were found between late drop-outs and completers. It was concluded that outcome researchers should use routinely the same procedures for assessing drop-outs' and completers' outcomes and that improvement of early and late drop-outs should be distinguished.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

Relation of client variables to continuance in five types of alcohol treatment settings.

Multiple regression analyses were used to assess the relationship of 29 client variables to continuance in five types of alcohol treatment settings (outpatient, inpatient, social detoxification, halfway houses with highly structured treatment regimens, and halfway houses with minimal structured treatment; N = 3,240). Socioeconomic variables were most often related to continuance; however, the pattern of the relationship between predictor variables and continuance varied greatly from setting to setting. The strongest multiple regression coefficients were found for outpatient and inpatient settings and the weakest were found for the two types of halfway house settings. It was concluded that archive-derived variables had significant, but limited, power to predict continuance and that other approaches to investigating continuance are needed.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

Interventions for reducing missed initial appointments at a community mental health center.

The present study attempted to reduce the initial appointment no-show rates at a CMHC through the use of several intervention techniques. One hundred-fifty individuals who called for an intake appointment were randomly assigned to either a control group or one of the following experimental groups: letter prompt received one day before appointment, letter prompt received three days before appointment, orientation letter received one day before appointment or orientation letter received three days before appointment. Individuals assigned to the one day orientation group had significantly lower no-show rates than individuals assigned to the control group (17% vs. 43%). The other groups were not significantly different from the control group. The effectiveness of the one day orientation letter for reducing no-show rates and its application at a CMHC was discussed.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Outpatient clinic therapist attitudes and beliefs relevant to client dropout.

One hundred and seventy-three psychotherapists from 43 Midwestern mental health clinics responded to a survey which addressed therapists' attitudes and beliefs on service delivery topics relevant to client premature therapy termination. Therapists' responses were contrasted with known client and service delivery data. Therapists preferred a treatment duration longer than that expected by clients, overestimated actual treatment length, underestimated actual dropout rates and cited dislike of therapy or the therapist less often than clients did as reasons for premature termination. Causes of therapists' overestimates of treatment length and continuance, and their relevance to the dropout problem, were discussed.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1987

The effects of program duration on continuance in a behavioral weight loss program.

This study investigated the effects of weight loss program duration on treatment continuance and weight loss. Subjects were assigned to either a 12 or 8 week program. Subjects in the eight week program (n = 74) had a lower dropout rate than those in the 12 week program (n = 52); weight loss at treatment termination and six month follow-up was equivalent for completers of the two programs. Results suggest that a reduction in weight loss program duration may be a practical way to reduce dropout rates and program costs.

Adult↗
PubMed1986

The use of termination status and treatment duration patterns as an indicator of clinical improvement.

The importance of outcome research for evaluating the effectiveness of mental health services was documented. It was concluded that the conditions which contribute to the current infrequent performance of outcome research in mental health centers makes widespread outcome research unlikely in the future. A simple procedure for estimating clinical improvement based on information routinely collected at agencies--treatment duration and termination status--was described. Early dropouts, late dropouts, and appropriate terminators were found to describe a continuum of clinical improvement. Research support for the recommended procedure and ways to implement it were described.

Community Mental Health Centers↗
PubMed1986

Personality and demographic characteristics of dropouts and completers in a nonhospital residential alcohol treatment program.

This study investigated the relationship of scores on the Psychopathic Deviate, Denial, Dependency, and MacAndrew Scales of the MMPI; intelligence; age; income; and education to continuance in a residential alcohol treatment program. Dropouts scored higher on the Psychopathic Deviate Scale than completers did. For completers, Psychopathic Deviate scores were correlated with age and Denial scores were correlated with intelligence. These relationships did not occur for dropouts. Findings were compared to research done in hospital settings.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Variables related to continuance in a behavioral weight loss program.

This study compared nonoutcome characteristics of completers and dropouts in a behavioral weight loss program. The significant relationships between several personality dimensions and continuance were discussed. It was proposed that the unusual finding of personality differences was made possible by distinguishing early from late dropouts.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Improvement in clients who have given different reasons for dropping out of treatment.

Addressed the dropout problem by (a) directly asking clients their reasons for dropping out; and (b) assessing pretherapy to follow-up symptom change in clients grouped by dropout reason. Forty-six dropouts who had been administered the Brief Symptom Inventory at intake were contacted 3 months later. At follow-up they were asked their reasons for dropping out and readministered the Brief Symptom Inventory. It was found that 39% quit due to "no need for services," 35% due to "environmental constraints," and 26% due to "dislike of services." The "no need for services" and "environmental constraints" groups had significant decreases in intake to follow-up Brief Symptom Inventory scores. Dropouts were found to be a heterogeneous group whose follow-up adjustment was related to termination reason. This contradicts prevailing notions that consider all dropouts as treatment failures.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1983

Follow-up adjustment of outpatient dropouts.

This study assesses the post-therapy adjustment of outpatient dropouts by investigating the relationship between termination status, number of visits attended, and pretreatment and follow-up symptom levels. Dropouts who attended only one or two sessions had extremely poor adjustment at follow-up; later dropouts were improved at follow-up, though their absolute level of adjustment was inferior to that of the appropriate terminators.

Adult↗