Assessing Psychotherapy Outcome With Feedback

Assessing Psychotherapy Outcome in Treatment as Usual Versus Treatment as Usual With the STIC Feedback System

This study is a comparison of client outcomes in two different types of psychotherapy treatment. In one condition clients will receive treatment-as-usual (TAU); the therapy that they would normally receive. In the other condition clients will receive treatment-as-usual but in addition their therapist will have access to empirical feedback on client progress. Clients in the feedback condition will fill out weekly online questionnaires, and their therapists will have access to a website that feeds back the results of these questionnaires. The purpose of the study is to understand the impact of providing such feedback to therapists. Participating therapists at 4 sites will offer all of their clients the opportunity to participate, and participating clients will be randomly assigned to either condition. This should result in a representative sample of client seeking treatment at these 4 Chicago-area clinics.

Study Overview

• Status: Unknown
• Conditions: Family Dysfunction; Individual Psychiatric Disorder; Couple Dysfunction
• Intervention / Treatment: Other: Treatment as Usual; Other: Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change (STIC)

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Anticipated): 1000
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Illinois
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60640
      • Recruiting
      • Community Counseling Centers of Chicago
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60645
      • Recruiting
      • Jewish Child and Family Services
    • Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60654
      • Recruiting
      • Catholic Charities
    • Evanston, Illinois, United States, 60201
      • Recruiting
      • The Family Institute at Northwestern University
      • Principal Investigator: William Pinsof, Ph.D.

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 12 years and older (Child, Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Client seeks therapy at one of the 4 participating sites
• For Individual therapy: client must consent and complete pre-test battery before the first therapy session
• For couple therapy: both clients must consent and complete pre-test battery before the first therapy session
• For family therapy: at least one client must consent and complete pre-test battery before the first therapy session
• Clients must be 12 years of age or older
• Clients must be able to read (English or Spanish) at a 6th grade level

Exclusion Criteria:

• Clients under 12 years of age
• Clients incapable of reading at a 6th grade level
• Clients who are blind, or are have sufficiently impaired sight as to be unable to read the questions on the web portal

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Treatment as Usual; Patients in the Treatment as Usual condition receive the same psychotherapy treatment as they would were they not enrolled in the study.	Other: Treatment as Usual; Clients receive psychotherapy treatment as planned and implemented by their psychotherapists. Exact type of treatment varies by therapist and according to client need.
Experimental: Treatment as Usual with the STIC (TAU + STIC); Patients in the TAU + STIC condition receive the treatment that they normally would from their therapist, but with the addition of the STIC measurement and feedback system.	Other: Treatment as Usual; Clients receive psychotherapy treatment as planned and implemented by their psychotherapists. Exact type of treatment varies by therapist and according to client need.; Other: Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change (STIC); The STIC is a computerized measurement and feedback system for use in psychotherapy. The measurement system consists of weekly questionnaires, completed on the computer, that target symptoms and functioning in a variety of domains of a clients life (e.g., individual symptoms, couple functioning, family functioning, relationship with children). The feedback system consists of a web-portal where therapists may access their clients' STIC responses, for the purposes of planning treatment, assessing progress, and discussing change with clients.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in mental health symptoms at termination	Clients complete a self-report outcome packet measuring mental health symptoms, tailored to their demographics, including some or all of the following: Beck Depression Inventory II: Beck Anxiety Inventory: Outcome Questionnaire 45: Short-form 36 Health Survey: Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale: Family Assessment Device: Strengths-Difficulties Questionnaire.	At the termination of therapy (varies naturally case-to-case, but an average of 7 weeks) clients complete the outcome packet that asks about mental health symptoms in the previous month.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in mental health symptoms at 6-month follow up	Clients complete a self-report outcome packet measuring mental health symptoms, tailored to their demographics, including some or all of the following: Beck Depression Inventory II: Beck Anxiety Inventory: Outcome Questionnaire 45: Short Form 36 Health Survey: Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale: Family Assessment Device: Strengths-Difficulties Questionnaire.	6 months post termination
Change in mental health symptoms at 12-month follow-up	Clients complete a self-report outcome packet measuring mental health symptoms, tailored to their demographics, including some or all of the following: Beck Depression Inventory II: Beck Anxiety Inventory: Outcome Questionnaire 45: Short Form 36 Health Survey: Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale: Family Assessment Device: Strengths-Difficulties Questionnaire.	12 months post termination

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: The Family Institute at Northwestern University
• Collaborators: The Chicago Community Trust; Jewish Child and Family Services; Catholic Charities; Community Counseling Centers of Chicago
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: William Pinsof, Ph.D., The Family Institute at Northwestern University

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start: December 1, 2013
• Primary Completion (Anticipated): January 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Anticipated): August 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: December 19, 2013
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: December 24, 2013
• First Posted (Estimate): December 30, 2013

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Estimate): August 9, 2016
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 8, 2016
• Last Verified: August 1, 2016

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Behavioral Symptoms; Problem Behavior; Mental Disorders
• Other Study ID Numbers: TFI-001