Advances in clinical intervention research: A decade review.

Abstract

A number of selected areas of development in intervention research in Canada are reviewed. The advances over the decade in individual psychotherapy research on outcome, differential treatment efficacy, interpersonal skills, in-therapy performance and cognitive behavioural approaches are covered. In addition, developments in family therapy and programme development and evaluation are discussed. The progression in the field beyond simple outcome research design to a new type of research closer to the level of clinical practice which relates process to outcome is discussed. New approaches go beyond the study of static person-situation interactions to produce a process research which investigates the dynamic, cognitive and affective performances of clients in specific in-thcrapy situations.

Researching Psychotherapy, the Importance of the Client's View: A Methodological Challenge

“…Rowan (1992, p. 160), suggests that those who are involved in research in psychotherapy have become remote from those who practise it, he goes on to state "It is difficult for the ordinary person to realize just how irrelevant most of the research actually is". This point is supported by Greenberg (1981) who argues that much of the research in psychotherapy offers little to practising therapists with knowledge about what effects therapeutic outcomes being "disappointingly meagre". In the standard work on outcome research Garfield and Bergin (1986) offer a comprehensive review of current psychotherapy research.…”

A model for conceptualizing interventions in social service agencies.

“…The current trend, and the one represented in our model, involves a focus on specific aspects of the counsellor-client interaction. Recent reviews of this literature — Greenberg (1981), Hill (1978, Hill 1982), Highlin and Hill (1984), Orlinsky and Howard (1978), and Strong and Claiborn (1982) — indicate a variety of approaches to the conceptualization and measurement of these processes. We have chosen to represent the factor in our model in terms of several variables: ongoing contracting, message content, relationship style, and the number, duration, and density of contacts.…”

What is Good Psychotherapy?

“…The "drug metaphor" (Stiles & Shapiro, 1989) in psychotherapy research inappropriately assumes that psychotherapy is a single, active ingredient consistent across therapists, clients, and contexts (Butler & Strupp, 1986;Greenberg, 1981;Heatherington, 1988;Kruger, 1983;Lambert, 1989). Research regarding good therapy offers an alternative to the drug metaphor by exploring the practical activity of therapists and clients as they discern for themselves answers to the good-therapy question.…”