ERIC Number: EJ749478
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2007
Pages: 11
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1537-4416
EISSN: N/A
Evaluating Psychiatric Hospital Admission Decisions for Children in Foster Care: An Optimal Classification Tree Analysis
Snowden, Jessica A.; Leon, Scott C.; Bryant, Fred B.; Lyons, John S.
Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, v36 n1 p8-18 2007
This study explored clinical and nonclinical predictors of inpatient hospital admission decisions across a sample of children in foster care over 4 years (N = 13,245). Forty-eight percent of participants were female and the mean age was 13.4 (SD = 3.5 years). Optimal data analysis (Yarnold & Soltysik, 2005) was used to construct a nonlinear classification tree model for predicting admission decisions. As expected, clinical variables such as suicidality, psychoticism, and dangerousness predicted psychiatric admissions; however, several variables that are not direct indications of acute psychiatric distress, such as the presence of family problems and the location of the hospital screening, impacted decision making in a subsample of cases. Further analyses indicated that the model developed in Year 1 reliably and consistently predicted admission decisions (with 64%-68% overall accuracy) across the next 3 years. Policy, research, and clinical implications are discussed.
Descriptors: Psychiatric Hospitals, Family Problems, Data Analysis, Foster Care, Classification, Models, Predictor Variables, Decision Making, Suicide, Self Destructive Behavior, Psychosis, Antisocial Behavior, Geographic Location, Screening Tests
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc. 10 Industrial Avenue, Mahwah, NJ 07430-2262. Tel: 800-926-6579; Tel: 201-258-2200; Fax: 201-236-0072; e-mail: journals@erlbaum.com; Web site: https://www.LEAonline.com
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A