Sustained Symptom Reduction by Aftercare following Discharge from Psychiatric Inpatient Treatment: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Aims: To find out whether group based aftercare with duration of ten to 20 weeks would help clients discharged from psychiatric in-patient treatment to maintain or improve clinical symptomatology over a follow-up period of at least one year. Study Design: Exploratory study with an intervention vs. control group design. Place and Duration of Study: The Waiern Clinic, Department of Psychosomatics, Feldkirchen (Austria), between January 2012 and June 2015. Methodology: We included 177 patients (131 of them women; age range 22-76 years, M = 50.8, s = 10.8 years), mostly diagnosed with major depression or anxiety disorders. N = 91 patients (N = 71 of them women) were assigned to the aftercare group and N = 86 patients (N = 60 of them female) were assigned to the control group. Clinical symptomatology was assessed by the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) – 18, measuring depression, anxiety, and somatoform symptoms on six item-scales respectively. Follow-up assessment was performed by phone interviews. Only patients who had provided data at the beginning and the end of inpatient treatment and at follow-up were included in the study. Results: For the aftercare group, mean symptom load at the end of aftercare was compared with mean symptom load at least one year later. For the control group, mean symptom load at the point of discharge from in-patient treatment was compared with mean symptom load at least one year later. Whereas the aftercare group improved significantly (P = .004), there was no significant change in the control group (P = .95) (Cohen's d = - 0.35). Conclusion: Short-term aftercare following discharge from in-patient treatment may assist patients in improving clinical symptomatology over a period of at least one year.