Sustaining attendance at a mental health service: A randomized controlled trial

OBJECTIVE: A substantial proportion of psychotherapeutic treatments are prematurely terminated because the client discontinues attendance. Interventions have been developed to reduce premature termination, but these are only moderately effective and often place considerable burden on clients and services. This research evaluated a brief, low-cost self-regulation intervention (i.e., implementation intentions) designed to sustain attendance at a group psychoeducation program. METHOD: Clients (N = 82) who had been referred for a psychological intervention due to anxiety or depression were sent a questionnaire concerning their views of attendance. Participants were randomly assigned to form an implementation intention as part of the questionnaire or not (controls). Attendance was then monitored over the 5 scheduled sessions of an evidence-based psychoeducational intervention. RESULTS: Intention-to-treat analyses indicated that forming implementation intentions led to attendance at a greater number of sessions (M = 2.84 vs. 1.62), p < .01, and higher rates of completing the full course of treatment compared to controls (35% vs. 11%), p < .02. CONCLUSIONS: An intervention rooted in basic research on the psychology of action increased and sustained attendance at a mental health service. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).