Useful outcome research must use measures that are relevant to the clinical group in question. A literature review identified that little effort has been made to identify which areas of outcome are important for severely disturbed children with complex disorders, who are in day treatment. For a group of such children attending a psychiatric–educational day unit, this study set out to identify, at a qualitative level, which areas of change were valued by carers, teachers and clinicians. The results suggest that for children with severe psychiatric and educational problems a useful intervention need not involve large changes in the child. It was more important that the child’s informal and formal care network: carers, teachers, clinical staff and the professionals in other agencies, were able to reach a common understanding of the child’s difficulties, develop similar expectations of the child’s needs, and be able to agree on appropriate future plans for the child.
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2.
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3.
Gabel, S.
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4.
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Grizenko, N.
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Grizenko, N.
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McFadyen, A.
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Mays, N.
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, Rajah, S., & Crake, T. (1990). Combining day patient treatment with family work in a child psychiatry clinic. European Archives of Psychiatric Neurological Sciences, 239, 373-378.
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, Mason, R., & Collins, R. (1987). A long-term follow-up study of a children’s psychiatric day treatment centre. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 18, 58-68.
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, & Farley, G.K. (1985). Day treatment for children in the United States. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 24, 732-738.
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Zimet, S.G.
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Zimet, S.G.
, Farley, G.K., Silver, J., Herbert, F.B., Robb E.D., Ekanger, C., & Smith, D. (1980). Behaviour and personality changes in emotionally disturbed children enrolled in a psycho-educational day treatment centre. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 19, 240-256.
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