评估行为儿童密歇根大学.pdfVIP

A s s e s s m e n t of B e h a v i o r a l C h a n g e in a C hi l d P s y c h i a t r i c I n p a t i e n t P r o g r a m Jane A. Waldron, Ph.D. John A. Burns School of Medicine Paula S. Nurius, M.S.W., M.A. University of Michigan ABSTRACT: A behavioral rating scale, the Devereux Child Behavior Scale, was used to assess change in 55 children who were patients in a child psychiatric inpatient unit for an average of 3.9 months. The children were rated by unit staff on admission and at discharge, and by their parents prior to admission and at three and six months after discharge. The ratings indicate that the children did make statistically significant positive behavioral changes while in the hospital and that they continued to change up to six months post-discharge. Staff tended to rate the children as less disturbed than the parents but both groups of raters indicated significant change by their ratings. Hospitalization of pre-adolescent children for psychiatric treatment is an intervention which arouses much feeling and debate in the mental health community. 1,2Who should be hospitalized, what kind of treat- ment should be provided and how long young children should be away from their homes, are all valid questions which have received a variety of answers depending on the informant. Whether inpatient treatment of psychiatrically disturbed children produces behavioral or dynamic change has received relatively little research attention to date. Although clinical observation tends to support the notion that positive change does occur during hospitalization there are only a few s