Systematic Evaluation to Improve the Quality of Patient Care: From Hope to Hopeful

Abstract

Clement provides a case study that illustrates an excellent approach toward treatment. The approach conveys concretely the interplay of research and clinical application, assessment and systematic evaluation, and benchmarking of case progress based on similar cases in clinical applications and in research studies. The present comment underscores the important role of systematic evaluation as exemplified in this case report and as a key to high quality patient care. In addition, evaluation accumulated across multiple cases can contribute to the knowledge base both by testing and generating hypotheses about treatment. Evaluation is placed in the context of current discussions about evidence-based treatments and the ongoing debates about clinic practice and research.

The Influence of Demand Characteristics and Social Desirability on Clients’ Ratings of the Therapeutic Alliance

“…Continuously monitoring client response to treatment using standardized measures, a process termed client feedback , has become a recommended practice in the delivery of psychotherapy treatment (Ackerman et al, ; American Psychological Association [APA] Presidential Task Force on Evidence Based Practice, ; Kazdin, ; Lambert, 2010). Over a decade's worth of research has consistently supported the efficacy of client feedback to improve treatment outcomes with a variety of clients across a range of treatment settings (e.g., Anker, Duncan, & Sparks, ; Reese, Norsworthy, & Rowlands, ; Shimokawa, Lambert & Smart, ).…”

Terapia Cognitivo-Comportamental para Compras Compulsivas: Um Estudo de Caso Sistemático

“…O ECS é um delineamento do tipo misto, qualitativo e quantitativo, aplicável a psicoterapias conduzidas em contexto naturalístico (Dattilio, Edwards, & Fishman, 2010). Busca compreender os fatores que contribuem para a mudança por meio de avaliações repetidas, visando à obtenção de informações válidas, fidedignas e potencialmente replicáveis a outros casos (Kazdin, 2007).…”

Why Ineffective Psychotherapies Appear to Work

“…A fourth category of inferential errors that we do not explicitly address comprises erroneous inferences regarding the mechanisms of change in a given psychotherapy. As a consequence of this class of errors, researchers and therapists may conclude that a treatment is operating via specific mechanism X when it is actually operating via specific mechanism Y (see Kazdin, 2007). In such cases, the clinical improvements are due to specific mechanisms of the treatment but not to the specific mechanisms posited by the treatment’s proponents.…”