Sammanfattning
Early dropout reduces the benefits of planned treatment. The aim of this study was to look at differences
in early dropout from a long term inpatient treatment institution for patients with psychiatric and substance
use disorders, related to characteristics of the patients and the treatment program. The results
show differences in dropout related to patients’ characteristics, such as gender, age, level of education,
housing, antisocial personality traits, and cognitive problems at initiation of treatment. There was less
incidence of early dropout among patients who had been in inpatient treatment before or who had been
given a pretreatment inpatient programme before the main inpatient treatment. However, none of the
differences are statistically significant. It is argued that further research on dropout should focus on the
whole treatment trajectory rather then just single treatment programs.