Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The Session Report Form (SRF): Are Clinicians Addressing Concerns Reported by Youth and Caregivers?

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between clinician-reported content addressed in sessions, measured with the Session Report Form (SRF), and multi-informant problem alerts stemming from a larger battery of treatment process and progress measures. Multilevel Multinomial Logit Models were conducted with 133 clinicians and 299 youths receiving home-based treatment (N = 3,143 sessions). Results indicate a strong relationship between session content and problems related to youth symptoms and functioning as reported by clinicians in the same session. Session content was related to emotional, family, and friend/peer problems reported by youth and youth behavioral problems reported by caregivers. High-risk problems (alcohol/substance use, harm to self or others) were strongly related to session content regardless of informant. Session content was not related to problem alerts associated with the treatment process, caregiver strain, or client/caregiver strengths. The SRF appears to be a useful measure for assessing common themes addressed in routine mental health settings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Achenbach, T. M. (2011). Commentary: Definitely more than measurement error: But how should we understand and deal with informant discrepancies? Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 40(1), 80–86. doi:10.1080/15374416.2011.533416.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Athay, M. M. (2012). Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) in caregivers of clinically-referred youth: Psychometric properties and mediation analysis. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. doi:10.1007/s10488-011-0390-8.

  • Athay, M. M., & Bickman, L. (2012). Development and psychometric evaluation of the youth and caregiver Service Satisfaction Scale. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. doi:10.1007/s10488-012-0407-y.

  • Athay, M. M., Riemer, M., & Bickman, L. (2012). The Symptoms and Functioning Severity Scale (SFSS): Psychometric evaluation and discrepancies among youth, caregiver, and clinician ratings over time. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. doi:10.1007/s10488-012-0403-2.

  • Bickman, L. (2008). A measurement feedback system (MFS) is necessary to improve mental health outcomes. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 47(10), 1114–1119.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bickman, L., Athay, M. M., Riemer, M., Lambert, E. W., Kelley, S. D., Breda, C., Tempesti, T., Dew-Reeves, S. E., Brannan, A. M., & Vides de Andrade, A. R. (Eds.). (2010). Manual of the Peabody Treatment Progress Battery (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University. http://peabody.vanderbilt.edu/ptpb/.

  • Bickman, L., Kelley, S., Breda, C., Vides de Andrade, A., & Riemer, M. (2011). Effects of routine feedback to clinicians on youth mental health outcomes: A randomized cluster design. Psychiatric Services, 62, 1423–1429. doi:10.1176/appi.ps.002052011.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bickman, L., Vides de Andrade, A. R., Athay, M. M., Chen, J. I., De Nadai, A. S., Jordan-Arthur, B., & Karver, M.S. (2012). The relationship between change in therapeutic alliance and improvement in youth symptom severity: Whose ratings matter the most? Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. doi:10.1007/s10488-011-0398-0.

  • Brannan, A. M., Athay, M. M., & Vides de Andrade, A. R. (2012). Measurement quality of the Caregiver Strain Questionnaire-Short Form 7 (CGSQ-SF7). Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. doi:10.1007/s10488-012-0412-1.

  • Breda, C. S., & Riemer, M. (2012). Motivation for Youth’s Treatment Scale (MYTS): A new tool for measuring motivation among youths and their caregivers. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. doi:10.1007/s10488-012-0408-x.

  • Burnam, M. A., Hepner, K. A., & Miranda, J. (2009). Future research on psychotherapy practice in usual care. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research,. doi:10.1007/s10488-009-0254-7.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Los Reyes, A. (2011). Introduction to the special section: More than measurement error: Discovering meaning behind informant discrepancies in clinical assessments of children and adolescents. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 40(1), 1–9. doi:10(1080/15374416),2011,533405.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • De Los Reyes, A., Alfano, C. A., & Beidel, D. C. (2011a). Are clinicians’ assessments of improvement in children’s functioning “global”? Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 40(2), 281–294.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • De Los Reyes, A., Youngstrom, E. A., Swan, A. J., Youngstrom, J. K., Feeny, N. C., & Findling, R. L. (2011b). Informant discrepancies in clinical reports of youths and interviewers’ impressions of the reliability of informants. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 21(5), 417–424. doi:10.1089/cap.2011.0011.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dew-Reeves, S. E., Athay, M. M., & Kelley, S. D. (2012). Validation and use of the Children’s Hope Scale- Revised PTPB Edition (CHS-PTPB): High initial youth hope and elevated baseline symptomatology predict poor treatment outcomes. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. doi:10.1007/s10488-012-0411-2.

  • Garland, A. F., Bickman, L., & Chorpita, B. F. (2010). Change what? Identifying quality improvement targets by investigating usual mental health care. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 37, 15–26.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Grilli, L., & Rampichini, C. (2007). Multilevel factor models for ordinal variables. Structural Equation Modeling, 14, 1–25.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hannan, C., Lambert, M. J., Harmon, C., Nielsen, S. L., Smart, D. W., Shimokawa, K., et al. (2005). A lab test and algorithms for identifying clients at risk for treatment failure. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 61(2), 155–163. doi:10.1002/jclp.20108.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hatfield, D., McCullough, L., Frantz, S. H. B., & Krieger, K. (2010). Do we know when our clients get worse? An investigation of therapists’ ability to detect negative client change. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 17(1), 25–32. doi:10.1002/cpp.656.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hawley, K. M., & Weisz, J. R. (2003). Child, parent, and therapist (dis)agreement on target problems in outpatient therapy: The therapist’s dilemma and its implications. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 71(1), 62–70.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hedeker, D. (2003). A mixed-effects multinomial logistic regression model. Statistics in Medicine, 22, 1433–1446.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hurlburt, M. S., Garland, A. F., Nguyen, K., & Brookman-Frazee, L. (2010). Child and family therapy process: Concordance of therapist and observational perspectives. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 37(3), 230–244.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kazdin, A. E. (2008). Evidence-based treatment and practice: New opportunities to bridge clinical research and practice, enhance the knowledge base, and improve patient care. American Psychologist, 63(3), 146–159.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kearns, M. A., Athay, M. M., & Riemer, M. (2012). Measuring youths’ perceptions of counseling impact: Description, psychometric evaluation, and longitudinal examination of the Youth Counseling Impact Scale v.2. doi:10.1007/s10488-012-0414-z.

  • Kelley, S. D., & Bickman, L. (2009). Beyond outcomes monitoring: Measurement feedback systems (MFS) in child and adolescent clinical practice. Current Opinion in Psychiatry, 22(4), 363–368.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, S. D., Bickman, L., & Norwood, E. (2010a). Evidence-based treatments and common factors in youth psychotherapy. In B. L. Duncan, S. D. Miller, B. E. Wampold, & M. A. Hubble (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: What works in therapy (2nd ed., pp. 325–355). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kelley, S. D., Vides de Andrade, A. R., Sheffer, E., & Bickman, L. (2010b). Exploring the black box: measuring youth treatment process and progress in usual care. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 37(3), 287–300. doi:10.1007/s10488-010-0298-8.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kramer, T. L., Phillips, S. D., Hargis, M. B., Miller, T. L., Burns, B. J., & Robbins, J. M. (2004). Disagreement between parent and adolescent reports of functional impairment. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 45(2), 248–259.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Love, S. M., Koob, J. J., & Hill, L. E. (2007). Meeting the challenges of evidence-based practice: Can mental health therapists evaluate their practice? Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention, 7(3), 184–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McLeod, B. D., & Weisz, J. R. (2010). The therapy process observational coding system for Child Psychotherapy Strategies Scale. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 39, 436–443.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Miranda, J., Azocar, F., & Burnam, M. A. (2010). Assessment of evidence-based psychotherapy practices in usual care: Challenges, promising approaches, and future directions. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 37(3), 205–207.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nakamura, B. J., Daleiden, E. L., & Mueller, C. W. (2007). Validity of treatment target progress ratings as indicators of youth improvement. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 16(5), 729–741.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoenwald, S. K., Garland, A. F., Chapman, J. E., Frazier, S. L., Sheidow, A. J., & Southam-Gerow, M. A. (2011). Toward the effective and efficient measurement of implementation fidelity. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 38(1), 32–43. doi:10.1007/s10488-010-0321-0.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sexton, T. L., & Kelley, S. D. (2010). Finding the common core: Evidence-based practices, clinically relevant evidence, and core mechanisms of change. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 37(1–2), 81–88. doi:10.1007/s10488-010-0277-0.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Skrondal, A., & Rabe-Hesketh, S. (2003). Multilevel logistic regression for polytomous data and rankings. Psychometrika, 68, 267–287.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weersing, V. R., Weisz, J. R., & Donenberg, G. R. (2002). Development of the therapy procedures checklist: A therapist-report measure of technique used in child and adolescent treatment. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 31(2), 168–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weisz, J. R., Chorpita, B. F., Frye, A., Ng, M. Y., Lau, N., Bearman, S. K., et al. (2011). Youth top problems: Using idiographic, consumer-guided assessment to identify treatment needs and to track change during psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 79(3), 369–380. doi:10.1037/a0023307.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Youngstrom, E. A., Youngstrom, J. K., Freeman, A. J., De Los Reyes, A., Feeny, N. C., & Findling, R. L. (2011). Informants are not all equal: Predictors and correlates of clinician judgments about caregiver and youth credibility. Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology, 21(5), 407–415. doi:10.1089/cap.2011.0032.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zimmerman, M., McGlinchey, J. B., Posternak, M. A., Friedman, M., Attiullah, N., & Boerescu, D. (2006). How should remission from depression be defined? The depressed patient’s perspective. American Journal of Psychiatry, 163, 148–150.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

This research was supported by NIMH Grants R01-MH068589 and 4264600201 awarded to Leonard Bickman.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Susan Douglas Kelley.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kelley, S.D., de Andrade, A.R.V., Bickman, L. et al. The Session Report Form (SRF): Are Clinicians Addressing Concerns Reported by Youth and Caregivers?. Adm Policy Ment Health 39, 133–145 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-012-0415-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-012-0415-y

Keywords

Navigation