Therapist effects on treatment outcome in psychotherapy : a multilevel modelling analysis
Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: Objectives: This study investigated specific and nonspecific therapeutic factors by focusing on therapist effects on treatment outcome. Methods: Psychotherapists (n = 68) from 10 types of psychotherapy treating 237 patients in an effectiveness study were investigated with regard to their contribution to treatment outcome. Factor scores from a factor analysis of the change scores in all outcome measures were cluster analysed in order to generate clusters of differently effective therapists. Results: Two clusters of differently effective therapists emerged. A fixed effects model revealed a significant impact of differential therapist effectiveness on treatment outcome. In addition to therapists’ differential effectiveness, also nonspecific factors such as patients severity of psychological problems predicted treatment outcome significantly. Treatment concepts did not impact therapists’ effectiveness. Conclusions: The results of this study support the view that there are differently effective therapists, but that patient characteristics also contribute significantly to the course of a psychotherapeutic treatment, independently of therapist.
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2788760649