A review of practices of psychotherapy outcome measurement

The present investigation reviewed 21 major journals that publish studies of psychological treatments. From the 21 journals 334 outcome studies published over a five year period between January 1983 to October 1988 were reviewed. The outcome measures were categorized according to an organizational framework with three dimensions classifying measures into areas of: content, technology, and source. Relative frequencies of measurement strategies were determined. The results of the survey indicate that the most typical assessment strategy was: (a) behavioral intrapersonal content, (b) descriptive technology, and (c) self-report source. Frequency counts of the measures indicated that 1430 outcome measures were used, of which 851 were used a single time.