Citation

King CA, Hovey JD, Brand E, Wilson R, Ghaziuddin N. J. Am. Acad. Child Adolesc. Psychiatry 1997; 36(1): 85-93.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

9000785

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To help determine optimal strategies for treating suicidal adolescents, the authors studied family predictors of compliance with recommended psychotropic medication monitoring, individual therapy, and parent guidance/family therapy sessions. METHOD: Sixty-six hospitalized, suicidal adolescents participated in a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and depression/suicidality assessment. Family/parental assessment measures were the Family Assessment Device, Social Adjustment Inventory for Children and Adolescents (parent-adolescent subscales), Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, and Social Adjustment Scale-Self Report. Follow-up evaluation, 6 months posthospitalization, consisted of structured telephone interviews assessing treatment follow-through. RESULTS: Compliance with recommended medication follow-up (66.7%) and individual therapy (50.8%) was better than compliance with parent guidance/family therapy (33.3%) sessions. The most dysfunctional families and those with the least involved/affectionate father-adolescent relationships had the poorest follow-through with parent guidance/family therapy. Mothers' depressive and paranoid symptoms were linked with less adolescent individual therapy and family therapy follow-through. Mothers' hostility was associated with less medication follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Follow-through was best for medication and individual therapy. Multiple family/parental predictors of poor follow-through suggest the need for alternative or supplemental treatment strategies.

Language: en