Improvement in clients who have given different reasons for dropping out of treatment

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Addressed the dropout problem by (a) directly asking clients their reasons for dropping out; and (b) assessing pretherapy to follow-up symptom change in clients grouped by dropout reason. Forty-six dropouts who had been administered the Brief Symptom Inventory at intake were contacted 3 months later. At follow-up they were asked their reasons for dropping out and read-ministered the Brief Symptom Inventory. It was found that 39% quit due to “no need for services,” 35% due to “environmental constraints,” and 26% due to “dislike of services.” The “no need for services” and “environmental constraints” groups had significant decreases in intake to follow-up Brief Symptom Inventory scores. Dropouts were found to be a heterogeneous group whose follow-up adjustment was related to termination reason. This contradicts prevailing notions that consider all dropouts as treatment failures.