Outpatient preparation and aftercare to improve the effects of psychosomatic inpatient rehabilitation

Outpatient Preparation and Aftercare to Improve the Effects of Psychosomatic Inpatient Rehabilitation Background: Patients who undergo inpatient psychosomatic rehabilitation often show little treatment motivation before admission. After discharge they have problems to transfer and stabilize inpatient modifications. The Pre-Post-Project tried to reduce these problems by outpatient interventions in a period of 4 weeks before and up to 8 weeks after the inpatient program. Both preparation and aftercare included two standardized psychoeducative group sessions and at least two individualized consultations. Patients and Methods: This offer was meant for patients with anxiety, depressive or somatoform disorders as the primary diagnosis. The evaluation was carried out as a quasi-experimental study that focused on the comparison of two parallelized groups regarding the outcome at five points of measurement: preliminary talk, admission, discharge, end outpatient aftercare consultations, and 1 year after the treatment. The experimental group ( N = 163) took part in regular ( abbreviated) inpatient therapy which was supported by outpatient interventions. The control group ( N = 170) only received the regular inpatient therapy. Results: Outpatient interventions are highly appreciated by the patients. The effectiveness of preparation was shown for the variables ` knowledge about psychotherapy', ` tension' and ` general condition'. The effectiveness of aftercare could be proven for the variables ` realization of goals', ` internal locus of control', ` dealing with daily demands', ` frequency and intensity of complaints', ` psychological distress', ` tiredness', ` tension', and ` anxiety'. The total effects remained almost stable in the follow- up 1 year after the treatment. Conclusion: Supplementing psychosomatic inpatient rehabilitation with outpatient treatment modules leads to improved preparation, transfer and effectiveness of rehabilitation. Influenced by our results, outpatient aftercare programs have become a regular component of inpatient psychosomatic rehabilitation in Germany.