Exploring the relationship between a continuum of care and intrusiveness of children's mental health services.

Intake data for 61 children in three types of mental health programs in Philadelphia--partial hospitalization, home-based services, and outpatient treatment--were compared to examine an assumption of the continuum-of-care concept: the level of a program's intrusiveness is positively related to a child's severity of dysfunction. Results supported the relationship between intrusiveness and dysfunction only when children in outpatient treatment were compared with those in the other two programs. Children treated in the less intrusive home-based program were more dysfunctional than those treated in the more intrusive partial hospitalization program. Factors other than degree of dysfunction, such as a history of outpatient treatment, were more predictive of treatment type. Results suggest that it may be more accurate to speak of an array of services rather than a continuum.