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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

follow-up, psychotherapy clients, feedback, clinical support tools, CST

College

David O. McKay School of Education

Department

Counseling Psychology and Special Education

Abstract

Based on intake and follow-up scores on patients’ perceptions of their well-being, approximately 10% of patients who see trained psychotherapists have a negative treatment outcome. Additionally, 30%-40% see no positive differential change at all. Because of these negative statistics, researchers have studied various methods that might improve therapy outcome. A team of BYU researchers has identified that providing feedback and Clinical Support Tools (CSTs) to therapists about patient progress has been effective in promoting patient progress as well as efficient service delivery. This feedback is given in the form of graphs that chart the rate of client change based on the OQ-45, a psychometric test found to have extensive reliability and validity across clinical and normative populations. The CSTs are based on questionnaires that measure whether the client is experiencing an average or below-average therapeutic relationship, motivation to change, or social support network. These findings are relayed to the therapist in the form of suggestions on how the therapist should proceed in his or her interaction with the client (Whipple, Lambert, Smart, Nielsen, Hawkins, & Vermeersch, 2003).

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