USING FEEDBACK ON PATIENT PROGRESS TO PREDICT THE OUTCOME OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

The Dose-Response and Phase Models are useful for informing quality as surance research on the expected pat?erns for separate categories of o utcomes in psychotherapy. Moreover. these models predict the sequence of change for outcomes that may be differentially valued by patients, therapists, stakeholders, and cost managers. Valid feedback on the pro gress of treatment is critical because patients, therapists, and cost managers make decisions about continuation and focus of treatment whil e psychotherapy is in progress. In this study, the focus is on the val idity of feedback data for therapist appraisal of patient progress. Fe edback at patient intake. in early sessions of psychotherapy. and at l ater sessions of psychotherapy is considered. Among the variables exam ined are patient and therapist agreement on severity level oi severity , evidence of remoralization, and evidence of symptomatic remission. D ata are drawn from archived records of 243 psychotherapy cases conduct ed in several managed care service delivery settings. The implications of a therapist's use of feedback to adjust the therapeutic process in an individual case are discussed. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons. Inc.