Abstract
At the core of ensuring quality treatment is the assessment of changes in patients following interventions—so-called “outcome research.” This area of research is central to quality improvement because the scientific study of patient change tempers the undocumented and often overstated consequences of psychological and medical practitioners. We attempt here a brief summary of research on psychosocial interventions and its implications for quality management. This research summary examines outcome and process research as they apply both to the individual patient as well as to the delivery system in which the outcome of larger populations becomes an overriding concern. We first review outcome in its historical context, followed by issues of matching patients with treatments and selecting therapists to maximize positive outcomes.
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Lambert, M.J., Huefner, J.C., Reisinger, C.W. (2000). Quality Improvement. In: Handbook of Quality Management in Behavioral Health. Issues in the Practice of Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4195-0_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-4195-0_5
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