Treatment completion and outcome in a partial hospitalization program: Interactions among patient variables

Reviews of treatment completion suggest using psychological variables and m ore complex designs to help predict completion status and understand the re lationships among variables. Patients (N = 102) with serious emotional, cop ing, and interpersonal problems were admitted to a partial hospitalization program. Fifty-eight completed the program and 44 terminated prematurely. P sychological mindedness (PM), interpersonal problems, and chronicity of psy chiatric problems were used as predictors. A hierarchical logistic regressi on was conducted. PM and chronicity emerged as statistically significant in dividual predictors of completion status. Only chronicity increased the odd s of classifying completers, while noncompleters were not classified above chance. The interaction between PM and chronicity was statistically signifi cant, but did not increase accurate classification over and above chronicit y alone. Completers with more chronic problems had higher levels of PM. PM may act as a buffer against the negative impact of chronicity. It was found that those who completed treatment tended to benefit from treatment.