TREATMENT ADHERENCE PROCESS RESEARCH IN FAMILY-THERAPY - A RATIONALE AND SOME PRACTICAL GUIDELINES

Treatment adherence research has recently established a permanent nich e in psychotherapy outcome research as a means for testing whether int erventions have been implemented as intended. Advanced-level adherence methods allow investigators to move beyond treatment integrity questi ons regarding model fidelity and toward treatment process questions re garding therapeutic technique and intervention dosage. Though still in the developmental stage, treatment adherence process procedures appea r to be congruent with the methods, goals, and theoretical framework t hat characterize contemporary psychotherapy process research. Because adherence process research is virtually absent from the family therapy research literature, practical guidelines are presented for conductin g observational-based adherence research on family therapy models, usi ng the example of Multidimensional Family Therapy.