Brief Acceptance-Based Intervention for Increasing Intake Attendance at a Community Mental Health Center

Intake no-show rates for psychotherapy vary from 20% to 57% (Swenson & Pekarik, 1988), and experiential avoidance may be related to failure to attend intake sessions. This pilot study attempted to increase intake attendance at a community mental health center by employing a brief experiential acceptance-based intervention. Those who scheduled intakes were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 groups: orientation letter or acceptance-enhanced orientation letter; rates from these conditions were compared with a retrospective comparison control group. Participants were randomized by way of an online random number generator. Persons assigned to the orientation group did not have a higher show rate than persons within the control group (∼48% compared with ∼52%). Persons assigned to the acceptance group did have higher show rates than persons in the other two groups (∼67% compared with ∼48% and ∼52%, respectively), however this difference was nonsignificant. Results suggest that brief acceptance-based interventions should be further studied for their potential value in maximizing client attendance.