Patient opinions on the benefits of treatment programs in residential psychiatric care.

OBJECTIVE To assess patients' opinions on the perceived benefit of treatment delivered during their stay in a residential facility. METHOD We administered the Opinions on Curative Factors Questionnaire (OCFQ), which was developed from previous studies and assesses several treatment modalities and therapeutic factors, to a sample of 157 severely ill psychiatric patients admitted to a residential facility. RESULTS All therapeutic factors tested by the OCFQ were considered helpful or very helpful by most of those sampled. The item with the highest score was "talking to doctor," followed by "free pass," "medication," "visitors," "nonhospital setting," "making friends with patients," "structure of daily life," "support from team," and "talking to nurses." The least-valued item was "group activities." CONCLUSION Psychiatric patients consider several treatment factors to be helpful, especially those based on individual approaches or on a less restrictive therapeutic milieu that allows interactions with the outside world. These results may be a valuable contribution to improving treatment planning in residential facilities.