EFFECT OF PREDISCHARGE INTERVENTIONS ON AFTERCARE ATTENDANCE - PROCESS AND OUTCOME

A widely recognized problem in the mental health services delivery sys tem is that of patients' early discontinuance of therapy But less atte ntion has been given to the high rate of nonattendance at initial appo intments in outpatient mental health settings. The purpose of the stud y discussed in this article was to determine if particular predischarg e interventions had an effect on whether psychiatric patients attended their initial aftercare appointments-at a Veterans Administration men tal health clinic Two groups of patients were given predischarge inter ventions and one was not (a control group). Results skewed a trend of greater attendance at initial aftercare appointments by those who rece ived a predischarge intervention; however, the differences were not st atistically significant. Suggestions for clinicians and researchers ar e provided.