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Objectives Despite a strong association between individual self-esteem and treatment outcome in group cognitive-behavioural therapy ( GCBT), no study has investigated how patient outcomes might be influenced by an individual's self-esteem relative to other group members. Design The study comprised a retrospective examination of patients' data and used a multiple regression analysis to identify predictors of treatment outcome. Patients' pre-treatment self-esteem scores were assessed on a continuum and assigned to be low, medium, or high. Therapy groups were assigned to be either low, balanced or high self-esteem groups based on averaged self-esteem scores of participants. Methods In this study, 3,878 patients who had completed a 10-day intensive cognitive behavioural group therapy programme at a private psychiatric facility were included in the study. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem measure was chosen to assess self-esteem. The three subscales of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales were used as the outcome measures. Results Patient outcomes were influenced by pre-treatment self-esteem scores, such that higher initial self-esteem was associated with better treatment outcomes. Low group self-esteem was predictive of significantly better outcomes for depression, relative to higher self-esteem groups. Additionally, the combined influence of high individual self-esteem and low group self-esteem was associated with significantly enhanced depression improvement. Conclusions High self-esteem patients perform better on outcome measures following completion of GCBT. Low self-esteem groups show greater improvement in depression symptoms. Similar results for depression are achieved when patients with high self-esteem complete treatment in low self-esteem groups. Practitioner points Patients with higher pre-treatment self-esteem perform better on outcome measures compared to individuals with lower self-esteem., Low self-esteem groups perform better with respect to depression improvement. Similar results are found when high self-esteem patients complete treatment in low self-esteem groups., The study was a retrospective examination of patients' data and not a manipulation study; therefore, cause and effect relationships were not able to be determined., The generalizability of the finding to patients in other health settings remains to be determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This paper aims to describe a methodology to inform decisions about the optimal time to schedule reviews of a patient's hospital stay and to provide an example of its implementation., Method: Length of hospital stay was assessed in 1227 consecutive inpatient admissions. Data were transformed to reflect the probability of discharge from hospital in the following 7 days., Results: The resulting data reflected the points at which the conditional probability of being discharged were declining, revealing the potentially efficient times to conduct reviews of inpatient admissions., Conclusions: The methodology outlined appears useful in assisting psychiatrists responsible for inpatient care to decide upon optimal times to review a patient's stay in hospital.