Defining empirically supported therapies.

Abstract

A scheme is proposed for determining when a psychological treatment for a specific problem or disorder may be considered to be established in efficacy or to be possibly efficacious. The importance of independent replication before a treatment is established in efficacy is emphasized, and a number of factors are elaborated that should be weighed in evaluating whether studies supporting a treatment's efficacy are sound. It is suggested that, in evaluating the benefits of a given treatment, the greatest weight should be given to efficacy trials but that these trials should be followed by research on effectiveness in clinical settings and with various populations and by cost-effectiveness research.

Cognitive–Behavioral Stress Management Interventions for Persons Living with HIV: A Review and Critique of the Literature

“…In addition, only a few studies compared the intervention to both a waitlist control group and a timematched comparison condition. To evaluate the efficacy of behavioral interventions, trials should include both a rival treatment and no intervention control group [65]. Thus, future studies should utilize research designs that allow the effect of treatment intensity to be controlled for by using comparison treatments of equal length and intensity.…”

Family-based behavioural treatment of obesity: acceptability and effectiveness in the UK

“…Several studies have identified good short and long-term efficacy for FBBT (Epstein et al, 1985a(Epstein et al, , b, 1990a(Epstein et al, , b, 1995. However, evidence of generalization across settings is required for FBBT to be considered a 'well-established treatment' (Chambless and Hollon, 1998). British reviewers have concluded that there is a 'limited amount of quality data on childhood obesity programmes' (Summerbell et al, 2003).…”

Increasing the Quality and Availability of Evidence-based Treatment for Tobacco Dependence through Unified Certification of Tobacco Treatment Specialists

“…Most tobacco users express a desire to achieve long-term abstinence from tobacco use and make numerous unsuccessful quit attempts over the course of many years (Borland, Partos, Yong, Cummings, & Hyland, 2012;CDC, 2011). Evidence-based treatments for tobacco use and dependence greatly improve the chances that quit attempts result in long-term abstinence (Chambless & Hollon, 1998;Compas, Haaga, Keefe, Leitenberg, & Williams, 1998;Fiore et al, 2008;Zwar et al, 2004). Increasing the availability of high-quality evidence-based treatment for tobacco use and dependence will make it more likely that tobacco users use evidence-based treatments and that quit attempts translate into long-term abstinence.…”