Treatment outcome
the level of how well therapies work
Numerous professional journals frequently feature treatment outcome studies
Efficacy
the success of a particular therapy in a controlled study conducted with clients who were chosen according to particular study criteria
Effectiveness
the success of a therapy in actual clinical settings in which client problems span a wider range and clients are not necessarily chosen as a result of meeting rigid diagnostic criteria
-How well a therapy works “in the real world”
Example: Consumer Reports survey of its readers
Statistical significance
whether or not a significant difference exists between two groups in a lab
Clinical significance
whether or not a significant difference exists between groups in real-world terms
Internal validity
the extent to which the change in the dependent variable is due solely to the change in the independent variable
External validity
the generalization of the result—the extent to which the same finding is valid for different settings and populations
-Researchers aim to minimize any element that may bring the causal connection into question
The more deliberately controlled and internally valid an efficacy study is, the more dissimilar it can be to “the real world,” undermining external validity
Dissemination strategies
efforts to promote therapies that have demonstrated effectiveness in treatment studies to large numbers of therapists
Can target experienced therapists, graduate students, or novice therapists
Assessment Methods
Studies designed to evaluate and improve assessment methods may involve the:
Development, validation, or expanded use of new instruments
Establishment of normative data for specific populations on an assessment tool
Comparison of multiple assessment tools to one another
New research questions
Professional Issues
Studies examining elements of the profession can include clinical psychologists’:
Activities
Beliefs
Practices
Other aspects of their professional lives
Teaching and Training
Studies on how to educate those entering the profession include areas of study such as:
Training philosophies
Specific coursework
Opportunities for specialized training
Outcomes of particular training efforts
COVID-19 and Clinical Psychology Research
Large number of articles in research journals focused on the pandemic in 2020
Research most relevant to clinical psychologists:
How will the pandemic affect mental health? Specifically, what kinds of psychological distress and disorders will different pandemic-related experiences—living through an infection, losing a loved one, decreased income, disrupted routines, less frequent interpersonal interaction, and more—create?
How will the mental health effects of the pandemic be experienced by diverse groups (based on race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, age, or other factors) within the population? And how can treatment be equitably available to members of these groups?
How effective is psychotherapy in treating pandemic-related psychological distress and disorders?
How does the mode of psychotherapy—specifically, teletherapy rather than in-person therapy, as necessitated by the pandemic—influence the effectiveness of psychotherapy?
How will the increased burden for mental health services affect those who provide it, and how can those providers be best supported?
How can psychological assessment best occur via teletherapy?
How will children’s development, education, and psychological well-being be influenced by the pandemic?
How can political leaders most effectively communicate with the population to increase public safety behaviors such as social distancing, hand washing, and mask wearing?
Experimental method
a method that involves a number of discrete, sequential steps, including observation, hypothesis, empirical testing, and hypothesis revision
Hypotheses develop the independent and dependent variables
Independent variables
those variables in a study that are manipulated by the experimenter
Dependent variables
those variables that are expected to change as a result of the independent variables
Randomized clinical trials (RTCs)
a common type of experimental study in which researchers test the outcome of a particular, manualized therapy on a particular diagnosis
Quasi-experimental design
experimental designs that are less scientifically sound than experimental designs but are frequently used in clinical psychology due to ethical considerations
Between-group design
an experimental design in which participants in different conditions receive entirely different treatments
Experimental condition
the group that receives the experimental treatment
Control group
the group that does not receive the experimental treatment
Within-group design
an experimental design that involves comparisons of participants in a single condition to themselves at various points in time
Mixed-group design
an experimental design that combines aspect of between-group and within-group designs
Analogue design
an experimental design that involves an approximation of the target client or situation as a substitute for the “real thing”
Correlational methods
the process of examining the relationship that exists between two or more variables that does not determine a causal relationship between them
