Anxiety, Depression, Personality Disorders, Psychotic Disorders, Somatoform Disorders
Conditions
Keywords
somatoform disorder, psychotherapy, depression, anxiety, personality disorder
Brief summary
Objective: To evaluate whether or not cases treated with Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) facilitate healthcare cost reduction, whether any observed reduction is greater than that of a control group and whether any such gains would be maintained in follow up. Design: A quasi-experimental design was employed in which pre and post healthcare cost and usage data were extracted for all ISTDP treated cases from 1999 to 2008 and compared to parallel measures of a control group of cases referred but never treated.
Detailed description
Importance: Psychiatric and psychological disorders result in excess health care service use and costs. Brief psychotherapy methods may be effective across a broad range of mental disorders and could therefore result in healthcare cost reduction. Objective: To evaluate whether or not cases treated with Intensive Short-term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) facilitate healthcare cost reduction, whether any observed reduction is greater than that of a control group and whether any such gains would be maintained in follow up. Design: A quasi-experimental design was employed in which pre and post healthcare cost and usage data were extracted for all ISTDP treated cases from 1999 to 2008 and compared to parallel measures of a control group of cases referred but never treated. Setting: Treatments were provided at an urban University based psychotherapy service. Participants: All cases from the province of Nova Scotia treated within the research time frame were included. 890 patients were included with a very broad range of psychiatric disorders including anxiety, mood, somatoform, personality and psychotic disorders. 192 referred but never see cases served as non randomized controls. Intervention(s): ISTDP is an emotionally focused form of brief psychotherapy which has supportive, cognitive, experiential and primarily psychodynamic elements. In this setting the average length of treatment was 7.3 sessions and cost an estimated $500 dollars per treatment course.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALISTDP
An emotion focused brief psychotherapy format.
Sponsors
Nova Scotia Health Authority
Study design
Observational model
CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective
RETROSPECTIVE
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
12 Years to 90 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
* All patients referred for ISTDP treatment
Exclusion criteria
* Patients not referred for ISTDP treatment
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Total Doctor and Hospital Costs | 1 year pre versus 3 years post | Total Physician and Hospital billings per patient |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hospital costs | 1 year pre versus 3 years post | Total Hospital costs per patient |
| Hospital Days | 1 year per versus 3 years post | Hospital days per patient |
| Doctor Visits | 1 year pre versus 3 years post | Doctor Costs per patient |
| Doctor Costs | 1 year pre versus 3 years post | Doctor costs per patient |
Countries
Canada
Outcome results
None listed