Award Date

2009

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Psychology

Department

Psychology

Advisor 1

Jeffrey Kern, Committee Chair

First Committee Member

Christopher Heavey

Second Committee Member

Russell Hurlburt

Graduate Faculty Representative

Stephen Fife

Number of Pages

117

Abstract

The provision of feedback to psychotherapists regarding patient progress has been shown to produce improved therapy outcomes. However, little is known regarding therapists' responses to feedback. The current research examined novice therapists' perceptions of feedback based on the Outcome Questionnaire-45 (OQ-45). It was hypothesized that feedback would be considered more valuable when it was negatively-valenced (i.e., indicated that patient response to therapy was worse than expected). Patients (N = 19) of 5 trainee psychotherapists completed the OQ-45 before each session. Therapists then received feedback and rated it based on several characteristics. As hypothesized, negatively-valenced feedback was rated as more valuable than positively-valenced feedback. Additionally, therapists' ability to estimate patient change accurately increased over time. A follow-up questionnaire was completed by therapists in order to provide qualitative and quantitative data regarding their usage and perceptions of feedback. Results are discussed in terms of implications for the continued implementation of feedback systems.

Keywords

Client change; Feedback; Outcome questioinnaire-45; Patient-focused research; Therapists

Disciplines

Clinical Psychology

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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