[Therapy evaluation in child and adolescent psychiatry: inpatient treatment, day care treatment and home treatment in comparison].

The aim of the present study was to compare inpatient, day hospital and home treatment of 10 child psychiatric disorders as defined in the Multi-axial Classification Scheme. The subjects were 109 patients from two child psychiatric hospitals who fulfilled clearly defined criteria. They comprised about 10 to 15% of the total clinical population of the two hospitals. The patient were assigned at random to the three treatment modalities. Treatment effectiveness was evaluated blind by experienced child psychiatrists not involved in the study. There were no significant differences between the treatment modalities in duration of treatment. Neither were there any significant differences between the treatment modalities with respect to treatment effectiveness, although there were some overall differences between different diagnostic categories. For a small group of carefully selected children day hospital and home treatment can therefore be looked upon as alternatives to inpatient treatment.