Effectiveness of therapeutic milieu intervention on inpatients with depressive disorder: A feasibility study from North India.

Abstract

This study examined therapeutic milieu interventions on self-esteem, socio-occupational functioning, and depressive symptoms among inpatients with depressive disorders. A pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group quasi-experimental design was adopted. Sixty participants with depression who got admitted to the general hospital psychiatric ward were assigned to a control (Treatment as Usual) group and an experimental (therapeutic milieu intervention) group nonrandomly using a convenience sampling technique. We evaluated the following outcome measures: self-esteem, socio-occupational functioning, and depressive symptoms for both groups at baseline, 4th, 8th, and 12th weeks. Therapeutic milieu interventions improved self-esteem, socio-occupational functioning, and reduced depressive symptoms. The findings provided initial evidence for practice. Psychiatric nurses can implement simple, milieu therapy interventions in any setting, which will enhance the clinical outcomes and socio-occupational functioning of depressive patients.