Our Approach to Treatment
Casa Palmera’s dedication to patient progress and satisfaction is modeled around evidence-based outcomes that allow us to monitor our programmatic, organizational and clinical treatment.
Our clinical team utilizes two of the most widely used instruments for measuring the severity of depression and anxiety; the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). The BDI is composed of items relating to symptoms of depression such as hopelessness and irritability, cognitions such as guilt or feelings of being punished, as well as physical symptoms such as fatigue, weight loss and lack of interest in sex.
The Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) is a 21-question, multiple-choice, self-report inventory that is used for measuring the severity of an individual’s anxiety. The BAI consists of questions about how a person has been feeling in the last week, expressed as common symptoms of anxiety, such as numbness, hot and cold sweats, or feelings of dread.
The results of the surveys are used by the primary therapist to educate the clinical team, and help select appropriate clinical goals for each patient. Just before discharge, the survey is done again and reviewed with the patient as a means to support and suggest the work they will need to continue post-discharge. By comparing these two scores, we are able to see if our patients have a significant decrease in depression and anxiety as a result of treatment.
Understanding the Graphs
The information from the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) was entered into SPSS, the most widely used statistical program for quantitative analysis. We compared the results of a patient’s Depression and Anxiety score at Week One of treatment and just prior to discharge. Using a sample size of 55 patients, we found a significant decrease in a patient’s symptoms of depression and anxiety throughout treatment at Casa Palmera.
The first bar graph illustrates the changes throughout the group for symptoms of depression during Week One and just prior to discharge. The second bar graph illustrates the changes throughout the group in anxiety symptoms during Week One and just prior to discharge.
We use Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) on every admission and at the time of every discharge. GAF is a numeric scale, 0 through 100, to subjectively rate the social, occupational, and psychological functioning of adults. The information that it provides tells us how well, or adaptively, one is meeting various problems in living.
We analyze the percent of change in GAF scores in the area of diagnosis, which is all part of the important assessment and decision-making process. The percent of change in GAF scores provides us with an indication of the treatment gains and goals accomplished by our patients during their treatment.
