Treatment delay, outcome, and satisfaction in time-limited group and individual psychotherapy.

Abstract

As part of a randomized clinical trial in which we compared outcome in time-limited individual and time-limited group psychotherapy, patients were interviewed and completed a battery of assessment measures. All participants in the study were then randomly assigned to one or the other treatment modality. There were inevitable delays before patients began their assigned therapies. Group treatment patients waited an appreciably longer period of time, on average, than did individual treatment patients (48 days vs. 31 days). Nonetheless, it was only for individual therapy patients that we found a highly significant relationship between this delay and treatment satisfaction at the completion of therapy.

Validity and reliability of the Parent Satisfaction Questionnaire

“…Nevertheless, the nature of the client/therapist relationship may be an important determinant of satisfaction and in general practice these variables have been found to be strongly associated (Baker, 1990;Williams & Calnan, 1991). Similarly, satisfaction with mental health services has been found to relate t o the length of time between referral and first appointment (Budman & Springer, 1987;Jones & Lodge, 1991).…”

Improving psychotherapy services: Applications of research, audit and evaluation

“…In delivering a consumer-oriented service, it is vital to find methods of legitimating the patient's viewpoint on service delivery issues and obtaining genuinely discriminating data. Routine evaluation of consumer satisfaction is useful if attention is paid to the psychometric properties of the questionnaire used (Attkisson & Zwick, 1982;Budman & Springer, 1987) although there is a problem of blandly uninformative results when high proportions of those questioned report themselves as ' satisfied'. For this reason, services which are committed to taking patients' views seriously should focus on discovering and eliminating sources of patient dissatisfaction with the service.…”