Abstract

Outcome measurement has been demonstrated to be beneficial when used as a routine part of psychological practice (Lambert et al., 2002), improving both treatment time and outcome of patients, and helping therapists determine which of their patients are not responding to their current treatments (Hannan et al., 2005; Whipple et al., 2003). Despite these proven benefits, many therapists are reluctant to implement and use outcome measures in their routine practice (Hatfield & Ogles, 2007). In addition, the research demonstrating the benefits of these outcome measures has used randomized experimental design to examine the effects of outcome feedback to therapists. The current study focused on examining the benefits of naturalistic usage of outcome measurement feedback in a setting where such measures are a part of routine practice. Therapists' regular use of the feedback from the Outcome Questionnaire-45 was found to have statistical but not clinical significance in the prediction of a patient's symptom change. Additionally, the regularity with which a therapist views a patient's outcome measure feedback was not significantly correlated with that patient's treatment length, overall change in symptoms, or symptom level at termination. Implications regarding these findings are discussed and recommendations regarding the future study of outcome measures are provided.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

David O. McKay School of Education; Counseling Psychology and Special Education

Rights

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