A meta-analytic review of the effectiveness of inpatient group psychotherapy.

Abstract

The effectiveness of inpatient group therapy was estimated in a meta-analysis of 24 controlled and 46 studies with pre-post-measures published between 1980 and 2004. Diagnosis, theoretical orientation and the role of the group in the particular treatment setting were used to examine differential effectiveness. Beneficial effects were found for inpatient group therapy in controlled studies (d ϭ 0.31) as well as in the studies with pre-post-data (d ϭ 0.59). Differences in the homogeneity of patient improvement effect sizes were found across different diagnostic categories. Furthermore, greater improvement was exhibited in mood disorder patients when compared to mixed, psychosomatic, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and schizophrenic patients replicating recent findings from meta-analyses of outpatient group treatment. A comparison between controlled studies and pre-post-measure studies indicated no improvement for waitlist patients which contradicts previous reports. Implications for therapy and future research are discussed within the context of methodical considerations.

SCL-90-R Symptom Profile Clusters among Inpatients Undergoing Psychodynamic Group Psychotherapy: Cluster Stability, Associations with Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Outcome

“…Revealing results could enable hospitals to differentially assign patients to specific treatments or potentially help improve psychotherapeutic approaches. As with other treatments and treatment settings, consistent findings, with respect to psychodynamic group psychotherapy, show that different diagnostic groups attained similar treatment outcomes [1,2] . A more complex symptom-related differentiation of inpatients using multivariate symptom profile groups may allow for better predictions of treatment outcome and, in turn, improve differential intervention strategies and the understanding of the therapeutic processes.…”

Behavioral activation in acute inpatient psychiatry: A multiple baseline evaluation

“…Current inpatient services are frequently criticized for being socially disengaging (Sharac et al, 2010), not being guided by empirical research (Goldman, 2011), and staff report high levels of job dissatisfaction and burn out (Gilbody et al, 2006). Meta-analytic studies indicate inpatients benefit from psychological treatment (Cuijpers et al, 2011;K€ osters, Burlingame, Nachtigall, & Strauss, 2006;Stuart & Bowers, 1995;Xia, Merinder, & Belgamwar, 2011) but access to such therapy is restricted.…”

Provision and adaptation of group treatment in state psychiatric hospitals.

“…However, Kösters et al (2006) noted that the bulk of the controlled research was in cognitivebehavioral rather than other approaches, and that the bulk of the studies were from Germany. They noted a marked decrease in recent decades in inpatient group therapy research in the United States, which they attributed to changes in treatments and lengths of stay due to managed care.…”