Al. Ellwood et al., Empirically supported treatments: Will this movement in the field of psychology impact the practice of psychosocial oncology?, PSYCHO-ONC, 10(3), 2001, pp. 199-205
This article discusses the likelihood of the empirically supported treatmen
t (EST) movement impacting the practice of psychosocial oncology, with the
goal of raising awareness of these issues and encouraging debate within the
psychosocial oncology research and practice community. In 1993, the Americ
an Psychological Association struck a task force to develop criteria for em
pirically evaluating psychological interventions. The Clinical Psychology (
Division 12) Task Force now evaluates psychological interventions and publi
shes an updated list of ESTs on a yearly basis. Concerns raised about the E
ST movement in psychology have included difficulties with the terminology a
nd process of the Task Force, problems with the methodology used in psychot
herapy research, and with the possible practical implications of the Task F
orce list of EST. A review of the literature suggests that psychosocial int
erventions in oncology are currently beginning to be evaluated by the EST c
riteria and that the reviewed interventions have yet to attain EST status.
Following from this review, it is argued that researchers and practitioners
in psychosocial oncology should become aware of the standards established
by the Division 12 Task Force and that future psyche-oncology intervention
research may need to be designed to meet those standards. The discipline of
psychosocial oncology is encouraged to consider the possible implications
of accepting or not accepting the EST criteria. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wil
ey & Sons, Ltd.