THE CHILDS CONCEPTION OF PSYCHIATRIC CURE

Twenty-two sequentially hospitalized children on a preadolescent psych iatric unit were videotaped with a semi-structured Piagetian-type inte rview that focused on assessing their understanding of why they were i n the hospital, how they conceptualized their problems and how they th ought they would get better or cured. We found six categories of ''cur e'': 1) there was no cure for their problems; 2) cure meant reversal o f some behaviors; 3) cure involved some internal change; 4) cure was e quivalent to being discharged; 5) cure meant changing other people; an d 6) idiosyncratic answers. Our findings suggest that it is useful to clarify a child's understanding of treatment and cure in order to targ et more understandable and effective treatment.