Dialectical Behavior Therapy and Adolescent Patient Treatment Dropout

<p>Attrition in mental health treatment is an area of concern among the adolescent population, especially with patients engaged in deliberate self-harm. The purpose of this study was to examine the treatment attrition rate for adolescents with deliberate self-harm in an adapted dialectical behavior therapy intensive outpatient program. A total of 141 adolescents previously enrolled in the program were available for the study. Results demonstrated a 31.9% dropout rate. Graduates indicated greater improvement of overall distress from baseline to post-treatment than dropouts. Dropouts attended an average of 12 treatment sessions. Several factors were examined to identify potential predictors of patient treatment dropout: patient sociodemographic characteristics (i.e., age, gender,</p> <p>ethnicity, funding type, number of previous psychiatric hospitalizations) and psychosocial factors (i.e., Y-OQ-SR Total Score at baseline; BASC-2 PRS-A Externalizing Problems composite score; BASC-2 SRP-A School Problems; and the PRQ-CA Communication, Involvement, and Relational Frustration scale scores). None of the identified variables significantly predicted the number of treatment days. This suggests that the predictive factors of treatment dropout in youth with DSH may not be directly similar to those typically associated with general adolescent mental health treatment. The current study provides additional support for DBT-A and further understanding of treatment retention among adolescents with DSH.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Mayo, Danessa

Contributors dc:contributor

• Freeman, Kimberly
• Morrell, Holly E. R.
• Neece, Cameron
• Vermeersch, David

• Clinical Psychology
• Psychology
• Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Dialectical Behavior Therapy; Adolescent Psychotherapy; Behavior Therapy - Psychology; Borderline Personality Disorder; Self-Injurious Behavior
• Deliberate Self-harm; Adolescence; Outpatient programs; Patient treatment dropout;

Statement dc:rights

• This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/317

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsrepository.llu.edu:etd-1322