PSYCHOLOGICAL MINDEDNESS, WORK, AND OUTCOME IN DAY TREATMENT

A recently completed clinical trial that investigated the effectivenes s of a group-oriented, day treatment program provided an opportunity t o pursuea multidimensional approach to the prediction of treatment out come. The sample consisted of 99 psychiatric outpatients, most of whom had received diagnoses of affective and personality disorders. The pr edictor variables included a patient personality characteristic (psych ological mindedness), a group process variable (patient work), and the ir interaction. Univariate analyses revealed significant direct relati onships between psychological mindedness and both work and favorable o utcome, and between work and favorable outcome. Multivariate analyses indicated that psychological mindedness and work had independent signi ficant relationships (additive or interactive) with several of the out come variables. In combination they accounted for up to a quarter of t he outcome variance. The results demonstrate the benefit of using a th eoretically consistent multidimensional approach. The time-efficient n ature of the predictor measures used in the study make them particular ly amenable for use by clinicians and researchers.