“What Is Therapy?” A Therapist-Developed Intervention to Reduce Missed Appointments in Community Mental Health

Abstract

“No show” rates at community mental health centers are high. Therapists at a large community mental health center developed a one-session, theoretically informed Engagement Group to address common barriers to treatment attendance. People who missed Initial Assessments were three times more likely to complete the assessment and start therapy while the Engagement Group was offered than when it was not, chi-square (df = 1, N = 69) = 7.16, p < .01. People who frequently missed regular appointments reduced “no shows” from 2.8 (SD = 2.4) to 1.7 (SD = 2.5), t (26) = 3.0, p < .006. This effective intervention, developed by front-lines clinicians, demonstrates the practical value of creating and disseminating practice-based evidence.

Keywords:

• psychotherapy
• mental health
• treatment attendance
• engagement
• implementation science
• practice-based evidence
• CBPR

Acknowledgments

Portions of this work were reported at the meetings of the Society for Social Work and Research, New Orleans, LA, January 2009, and at the conference of NASW-Southwestern PA, Monroeville, PA, March 2008.

This work was supported by NIMH R24 MH 0066872: Collaborate to promote engagement of low-income clients, Carol Anderson, PI.