Treatment Outcome Among Child Psychiatric Outpatients in a Community Mental Health Center

The study evaluated the effectiveness of mental health center treatments for children aged 5–12 years. The Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) was administered before and after treatment to the parents of the treatment group (N = 71). The results were analyzed and compared to the results of the pretest and posttest CBCL administered to the parents of a matched group of comparison subjects (N = 33). The results showed that the treatment subjects significantly improved on both the externalizing and internalizing scales of the CBCL. The controls showed no significant change between pretest and posttest scores. As a result, it appears that clinic treatments can help clients with measurable problems decrease problematic behaviors. More data is needed to determine whether clinic treatments such as the ones described in this study can substantially help the most seriously disturbed school-age children.