Strong Patient-Therapist Alliance Possible in Nontraditional Inpatient Settings, Study Finds

Individuals in nontraditional inpatient care settings such as residential care and virtual hospitalization can develop strong therapeutic alliances with their care providers, reports astudy inPsychiatric Services in Advance.“Although inpatient care is considered the standard approach for acute states, efforts have been made in recent years to develop alternatives to hospitalization,” wrote Avraham Friedlander, Ph.D., of Ariel University, Ariel, Israel, and colleagues.“Because alternatives to psychiatric hospitalization ground their treatment approach in therapeutic principles that differ from those of traditional inpatient care, whether the alliance will develop in a similar manner remains unclear.”Friedlander and colleagues recruited 188 patients from three treatment settings:A standard inpatient psychiatric ward at a medical center.A residential care center known as Soteria House, which has a full professional staff but aims to create “a nonhierarchical and nondiagnostic environment … with medication not considered a first-line treatment.”A telepsychiatry-based hospitalization in which patients recover at home but have ongoing monitoring and online access to psychiatrists, nurses, and other professionals 24/7.Each patient and therapist (the psychologist, social worker, or psychiatric nurse who spent the most regular time with the patient) completed the Session Alliance Inventory following the first therapy session and again at discharge or treatment terminatio...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: inpatient hospital Psychiatric Services residential care Soteria telepsychiatry therapeutic alliance treatment alternatives virtual hospital Source Type: research