Predictors of long-term outcome for veterans participating in a day-hospital program.

While recent studies have investigated the relationship between patient characteristics and immediate treatment outcome in day-hospital treatment, none have investigated the relationship between these variables and long-term outcome. the present study attempts to expand upon previous research by including long-term follow-up variables based on posttreatment psychiatric hospitalization. A total of 96% of the admissions to a DVAMC Day Hospital Program in 1985 was reviewed retrospectively and for a 4-year follow-up. As with previous studies, the only consistent predictor of both immediate and long-term treatment outcome in day-hospital treatment was the number of pretreatment psychiatric hospitalizations. Immediate treatment and long-term treatment outcomes were also significantly associated, but variables which predicted the former did not necessarily predict the latter.