ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to examine the structure and function of partial hospitalization programs in the context of adolescent development. Partial hospitalization is a treatment modality that is gaining increasing attention as a cost-effective alternative to full hospitalization. In such programs, an adolescent usually spends a major part of each day or evening receiving mental health and educational services but continues to live in his usual environment. A conceptual basis for psychosocial development is elaborated here and then employed to clarify the design and implementation of adolescent partial hospitalization programs. We hope that a developmental perspective will remain the conceptual framework for design of programs and evaluation of patients even at this time of cost-driven experimentation with health care delivery systems.
