Date of Award:

5-1981

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Michael R. Bertoch (committee co-chair) William R. Dobson (committee co-chair)

Committee

Michael R. Bertoch

Committee

William R. Dobson

Committee

Keith T. Checketts

Committee

Jay Skidmore

Committee

Bartell Cardon

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of psychodiagnostic information provided by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R) and the Hopkins Psychiatric Rating Scale (HPRS), and therapist accountability on the psychotherapeutic outcome measures of goal attainment scaling (GAS), number of client-therapist sessions, length of treatment, therapist ratings of client improvement, and type and frequency of client termination. The subjects of this study were 72 persons who sought services at Bear River Community Mental Health Center, Logan, Utah, and who, subsequently, were assigned to one of eight participating therapists at this center. These clients were divided into three treatment groups each, with 24 clients per group. Each participating therapist had three clients in each treatment group, for a total of nine clients per therapist. In Treatment 1, psychodiagnostic information was not obtained from the clients through the use of the SCL-90-R and/or the HPRS during intake process, nor were their therapists subjected to an accountability manipulation. In Treatment 2, the clients were administered the psychometric intake instruments, but their therapists were again not subjected to the accountability manipulation. In Treatment 3, the clients were administered the psychometric intake instruments, and their therapists were subjected to the accountability manipulation. After each client had been terminated or had been in treatment for 16 weeks, his/her files were examined and the data for GAS, number of client-therapists sessions, length of treatment, and type of termination were obtained. Following the collection of this data, the therapists were asked to rate each of their clients' perceived degree of improvement. With this completed, the data was analysed using four 3 x 8 analyses of variance (GAS, number of sessions, length of treatment, and therapist rating of client improvement) and a chi square frequency test (type of client termination). All analyses yielded results which failed to reach a level of statistical significance (p >.05). Based on these results, it was concluded that therapist accountability did not exert a measurable effect on the psychotehrapy outcome measures utilized in this study. Possible reasons for these results were discussed, and areas of future investigation were suggested. The therapists used in this investigation were found to have a questionable level of training regarding use of the SCL-90-R and HPRS. This issue, its implications for the study, and general meaning were all discussed.

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