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Turning Back to Treatment: The Effect of Attendance and Symptom Outcomes on Subsequent Service Use

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Abstract

This study explored whether post-treatment symptom severity moderated the association between session attendance during an initial treatment episode and subsequent mental health service use. Data on attendance, symptom severity, and service use were gathered from an effectiveness trial testing a modular treatment for youth anxiety, depression, disruptive behavior, and traumatic stress. Multilevel logistic regression analyses showed a significant interaction between attendance and post-treatment symptom severity on subsequent service use, such that attendance significantly predicted subsequent service use when post-treatment symptom severity was in the normal range. Implications regarding the influence of treatment engagement on future help-seeking are discussed.

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Notes

  1. There were no significant main effects of either symptom severity or session attendance on subsequent service use.

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Acknowledgement

Funding was provided by John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Grant No. 12-103104-000-USP).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093-0812, USA

    Kendal Reeder

  2. Child and Adolescent Services Research Center, San Diego, CA, 92123, USA

    Kendal Reeder

  3. University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, USA

    Alayna L. Park & Bruce F. Chorpita

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  1. Kendal Reeder
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  2. Alayna L. Park
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  3. Bruce F. Chorpita
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Correspondence to Kendal Reeder.

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All study procedures were approved by the institutional review board of the University of California, Los Angeles as well as by those institutional review boards of participating service agencies that requested independent reviews. All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Reeder, K., Park, A.L. & Chorpita, B.F. Turning Back to Treatment: The Effect of Attendance and Symptom Outcomes on Subsequent Service Use. Adm Policy Ment Health 47, 641–647 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-020-01032-3

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