Posts tagged with 'assessment'
Psychotherapists & counsellors who don't monitor their outcomes are at risk of being both incompetent & potentially dangerous
1st November 2011
I find the recent paper by Kraus & colleagues a bit scary - "Therapist effectiveness: Implications for accountability and patient care" - with its abstract reading "Significant therapist variability has been demonstrated in both psychotherapy outcomes and process (e.g., the working alliance). In an attempt to provide prevalence estimates of …
A better way to measure mindfulness: a short form of the five facet questionnaire
25th October 2011
A short 24-item version of the Five facet mindfulness questionnaire - the FFMQ-SF - is downloadable both as a Word doc and in PDF format. Mindfulness is currently a real focus for research, therapy and general interest. To help discussion be constructive it's very important that we're clear what we're …
Guildford BABCP conference: the four main areas I want to use clinically after this conference (eighth post)
28th July 2011
I've already written a series of seven blog posts on this year's BABCP conference. What are the key points I want to take away? I think they centre around four areas. Most important for me is what's been triggered by Michael Lambert's presentation on "Supershrinks and pseudoshrinks" . Secondly, a …
Self-control, conscientiousness, grit, emotion regulation, willpower - how do you measure it?
27th June 2011
(the "brief self-control scale" is downloadable as either a Word doc or a PDF file; the "grit scales", assessing ability to commit to longer term projects, are downloadable as PDF files; assessment of the broader quality of "conscientiousness" as part of the big five personality assessment is downloadable as a …
New NICE guidance on common mental disorders: identification and pathways to care
26th May 2011
This month the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published their new evidence-based clinical guideline on "Common mental disorders: identification and pathways to care". The description reads "This clinical guideline offers evidence-based advice on the care and treatment of adults who have common mental health disorders, with a …
Psychotherapy & positive psychology: the assessment 'dashboard'
11th March 2011
Last week I wrote on "Psychotherapy & positive psychology: why psychotherapists should pay attention". This week I look at positive psychological assessment. The very widely used DSM system classifies mental disorders on five axes - clinical disorders, personality disorders/retardation, medical conditions, psychosocial/environmental problems, and global functioning. The US DSM and …
Two new, easily usable scales for assessing wellbeing
23rd January 2011
The two scales described are downloadable as "Flourishing scale" Word doc and "Flourishing scale" PDF, and also "SPANE" Word doc and "SPANE" PDF. This post, which provides background advice on using the FS and SPANE, is available to download both as a Word doc and as a PDF. For completeness …
Our life stories: needs, beliefs & behaviours - part two, "beliefs"
12th September 2010
I posted yesterday on the first, "Needs" section of the "Needs, beliefs, behaviours" diagram (below). Today I want to say a little about the second section of the diagram - "Beliefs". This diagram is downloadable both as a Powerpoint slide and as a PDF file. As I said in the …
How good is your GP or hospital? Listening to patient experience.
13th June 2010
"Better together: Scotland's patient experience programme" works to use the public's experience of NHS Scotland to improve health services. At the end of April they published provisional results for GP Practices throughout Scotland, and pilot results for a few initial hospitals are beginning to come through as well. I find …
A new book: "Assessing mindfulness & acceptance processes in clients"
6th June 2010
Ruth Baer's new book "Assessing mindfulness & acceptance processes in clients: illuminating the theory & practice of change" has just been published. The dust jacket description states "How does mindfulness work? Thousands of therapists utilize mindfulness-based treatments and have witnessed firsthand the effectiveness of these approaches on clients suffering from …