Perceptions of treatment helpfulness and depressive symptomology in psychiatric inpatients on a cognitive therapy unit

• Published in: Journal of rational-emotive and cognitive-behavior therapy 1999-04, Vol.17 (1), p.33-50
• Main Authors: FRIEDBERG, R. D, VIGLIONE, D. J, STINSON, B. L, BEAL, K. G, FIDALEO, R. A, CELESTE, B
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Behavior therapy. Cognitive therapy; Biological and medical sciences; Medical sciences; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Treatments
• ISSN: 0894-9085; 1573-6563
• DOI: 10.1023/A:1023021114133

This study examined 123 psychiatric inpatients' perceptions of treatment helpfulness using the Treatment Experience Questionnaire (TEQ), a measure that includes perceived elpfulness ratings for specific cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of treatment. It was predicted that (a) the inpatients on the cognitive therapy unit would perceive the cognitive therapy components of the program as more helpful than the non-cognitive components, and that (b) the perception of the helpfulness of the cognitive and noncognitive therapy components would significantly predict discharge depression scores, as measured by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The results indicated that the inpatients rated the helpfulness of both the cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of treatment highly and that there was a modest yet significant relationship between perceived helpfulness and symptom change. The BDI scores at admission explained considerably more of the variation in discharge BDI scores than the perceptions of helpfulness. These results are discussed in light of past and future research.