Therapy - Outcome informed practice

alendi use a simple system to measure how effective we are at helping clients from the clients own perspective. This is what we mean by an "outcome". Outcomes tell us whether each client actually felt any benefit after each session with us. Only a small percentage of therapists bother to do this but we find that it is an incredibly valuable part of the therapeutic process. We measure outcomes as a matter of routine and this is why we claim to be an "outcome informed" practice.

The information collected is treated with strict confidentiality in accordance with the Data protection Act 1998. Although we hope our clients agree to filling in the questionnaires, participation is entirely voluntary and access to therapy will not be compromised if any client declines to complete any form.

Measuring outcomes

At the start and end of each therapy session we ask our clients to complete a very brief form containing four questions. No words or numbers are required - instead the client simply places a mark on each of four lines to indicate their response to the four questions on each form.

Start of session

The ORS form (Outcome Rating Scale) is used at the start of each session. This gives us an overview of how our client feels he or she is doing in different areas of life and of progress between sessions. It helps us to pick up on times when progress feels slow and, always in full collaboration with our clients, we can discuss alternative possibilities when progress is not as our clients desire. Click here to see a (demo) Adobe Acrobat .pdf ORS form.

These forms are in an Adobe Acrobat Reader (.pdf) format. To download a free version of Acrobat, please click on the Adobe icon.

If you are having viewing these forms you may have an older version of the reader, please download the most recent version of Acrobat.

End of session

The SRS form (Session Rating Scale) is used at the end of each session. This helps to ensure that we are working in a way which our clients feel is appropriate. We greatly value feedback and this gives clients a non-verbal way to indicate if they think that anything was missing from the session. Click here to see a (demo) Adobe Acrobat .pdf SRS form.

Benefits

Research shows that the better the fit between client and therapist in the way they work together, the better the outcome is likely to be. Using these simple forms helps the client to feel involved with the process and also allows them to indicate clearly in a very safe way if they feel that the sessions are not working for them as well as might be expected. The therapist also gets to know how well they are actually doing - regardless of how they think they are doing.

References

Both of the ORS and SRS scales have been developed by the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change (ISTC). alendi is licensed to use these forms through the Human Givens group license. Other therapists must complete a licensing agreement and agree to the terms of use before using any of these forms. We encourage all counsellors and psychotherapists to become interested in outcomes. Following registration with the ISTC these forms can be downloaded at no charge and used in personal practice. Counsellors and psychotherapists wishing to register now with the ISTC please click here.

If you have a question - try the "Frequently Asked Questions" or the alendi site map or contact us if you need to know more about what we do.

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Last updated Fri 7 March 2008