Therapy Outcome (therapy + outcome)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


PREDICTORS OF SUBSTANCE USE AND FAMILY THERAPY OUTCOME AMONG PHYSICALLY AND SEXUALLY ABUSED RUNAWAY ADOLESCENTS

JOURNAL OF MARITAL AND FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2006
Natasha Slesnick
There is a dearth of research that examines the impact of family systems therapy on problems among sexually and/or physically abused youth. Given this void, differential outcome and predictors of substance use change were evaluated for abused, as compared with nonabused, runaway adolescents who were randomly assigned to family therapy or treatment as usual. Abused adolescents reported lower family cohesion at baseline, although both abused and nonabused adolescents showed similar substance use reductions. Utilizing hierarchical linear modeling, we found that substance use changed with change in cohesion over time. These findings link change in family functioning to change in adolescent substance use, supporting family systems theory. Findings suggest that a potent target of intervention involves focus on increasing positive communication interactions. [source]


Tumoral and tissue-specific expression of the major human ,-tubulin isotypes,

CYTOSKELETON, Issue 4 2010
Luis J. Leandro-García
Abstract The ,-tubulins are microtubule components encoded by a multigene family, which produces slightly different proteins with complex expression patterns. Several widely used anticancer drugs base their activity on ,-tubulin binding, microtubule dynamics alteration, and cell division blockage. The expression of these drug targets in tumoral and normal cells could be of crucial importance for therapy outcome, unfortunately, the complex ,-tubulin expression patterns have been poorly characterized in human. In this study, we developed a quantitative RT-PCR technique that accurately determines the mRNA expression of the eight human ,-tubulin isotypes, encoding class I, IIa, IIb, III, IVa, IVb, V, and VI and applied it to 21 nontumoral tissues and 79 tumor samples belonging to seven cancer types. In the nontumoral tissues, we found that, overall, TUBB (I), TUBB2C (IVb), and TUBB6 (V) were ubiquitous, TUBB1(VI) was hematopoietic cell-specific, and TUBB2A (IIa), TUBB2B (IIb), TUBB3 (III), and TUBB4 (IVa) had high expression in brain; however, the contribution of the different isotypes to the total ,-tubulin content varied for each tissue and had a complex pattern. In tumoral tissues, most isotypes exhibited an altered expression in specific tumor types or related to tumoral characteristics. In general, TUBB3 showed a great increase in expression while TUBB6 expression was largely decreased in most tumors. Thus, normal tissues showed a complex ,-tubulin isotype distribution, which could contribute to the toxicity profile of the microtubule-binding drugs. In addition, the specific isotypes significantly altered in tumors might represent markers for drug response. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


FDG PET studies during treatment: Prediction of therapy outcome in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

HEAD & NECK: JOURNAL FOR THE SCIENCES & SPECIALTIES OF THE HEAD AND NECK, Issue 2 2002
Eva Brun MD
Background Positron emission tomography (PET) provides metabolic information of tissues in vivo. The purpose of this study was to assess the value of PET with 2-[18 F] fluoro-2-deoxy- D -glucose (FDG) in prediction of therapy outcome (tumor response, survival, and locoregional control) in locally advanced HNSCC. Methods Between 1993 and 1999 47 patients underwent PET before (PET1) and after (PET2) 1 to 3 weeks of radical treatment with evaluation of metabolic rate (MR) and standardized uptake value (SUV) of FDG. All patients received radiotherapy, and 10 also received neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Median follow-up time was 3.3 years. Results Low and high MR FDG at PET2, with median value as cutoff, was associated with complete remission in 96% and 62% (p = .007), with 5-year overall survival in 72% and 35% (p = .0042) and with local control in 96% and 55% (p = .002), respectively. Conclusions FDG PET in the early phase of treatment of HNSCC is associated with tumor response, survival, and local control. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. [source]


Validation of a 28-item version of the Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation in an Irish context: the SCORE-28

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 3 2010
Paul Cahill
This article describes the development, in an Irish context, of a three-factor, twenty-eight-item version of the Systemic Clinical Outcome and Routine Evaluation (SCORE) questionnaire for assessing progress in family therapy. The forty- item version of the SCORE was administered to over 700 Irish participants including non-clinical adolescents and young adults, families attending family therapy, and parents of young people with physical and intellectual disabilities and cystic fibrosis. For validation purposes, data were also collected using brief measures of family and personal adjustment. A twenty-eight-item version of the SCORE (the SCORE-28) containing three factor scales that assess family strengths, difficulties and communication was identified through exploratory principal components analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor structure of the SCORE-28 was stable. The SCORE-28 and its three factor scales were shown to have excellent internal consistency reliability, satisfactory test-retest reliability and construct validity. The SCORE-28 scales correlated highly with the General Functioning Scale of the Family Assessment Device, and moderately with the Global Assessment of Relational Functioning Scale, the Kansas Marital and Parenting Satisfaction Scales, the Satisfaction with Life Scale, the Mental Health Inventory , 5, and the total problems scale of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Correlational analyses also showed that the SCORE-28 scales were not strongly associated with demographic characteristics or social desirability response set. The SCORE-28 may routinely be administered to literate family members aged over 12 years before and after family therapy to evaluate therapy outcome. [source]


Is one assessment enough?

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 5 2004
Patterns of helping alliance development, outcome
Early therapeutic alliance is usually measured by the rating of a single session (between the third and the fifth sessions). However, there is a strong argument in favor of viewing early alliance as a developing process. This study examined the relationship between patient's rating of the helping alliance (HAq) at each session and therapy outcome. This comparison was repeated using patterns of alliance over the course of treatment. Patterns of therapeutic alliance development were detected by clustering ratings of a sample of N = 70 outpatients across four sessions of very brief psychotherapeutic intervention. Cluster analysis revealed two main patterns (shapes) of alliance development: (i) stable alliance, and (ii) linear growth pattern. These patterns are more predictive of symptom improvement and social adjustment than single ratings, whereas single ratings measuring the strength of alliance are more correlated with patient's satisfaction.,Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Is Cognitive Case Formulation Science or Science Fiction?

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 1 2003
Peter J. Bieling
As with all systematic models of therapy, cognitive therapy distills a theory to the understanding of particular cases through the case formulation method. This article sets out criteria to evaluate whether cognitive case formulation follows the process of scientific inquiry, and it questions whether the formulation method meets these criteria. In terms of the evidence base for the cognitive theory that underpins cognitive case formulation, the research suggests that although the descriptive elements of cognitive theory are substantiated, the explanatory elements have received less support. In terms of the scientific status of the cognitive case formulation process, current evidence for the reliability of the cognitive case formulation method is modest, at best. There is a striking paucity of research examining the validity of cognitive case formulations or the impact of cognitive case formulation on therapy outcome. Implications for the clinical use of cognitive case formulation within a scientist-practitioner model are discussed, and potential programs of research to evaluate the case formulation method are described. [source]


Homework Assignments in Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy: A Meta-Analysis

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 2 2000
Nikolaos Kazantzis
This meta-analysis (27 studies, N= 1702) examined (a) the effects of homework assignments on treatment outcome and (b) the relationship between homework compliance and therapy outcome. Results of the primary meta-analyses indicated a weighted mean effect size (r) of .36 for homework effects and .22 for homework compliance. A moderator analysis (chosen on a priori grounds) was also conducted by partitioning the sample of effect size estimations first according to the sample problem type, according to the type of homework activity administered, and according to the source and time of homework compliance assessment. We hope that the focus of future research will now be diverted from general questions of the benefit of including homework in therapy, to more specific questions regarding the relative effectiveness of different types of homework assignments for different client problems. [source]


TENS and optokinetic stimulation in neglect therapy after cerebrovascular accident: a randomized controlled study

EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 9 2008
A. Schröder
Background:, In a randomized controlled type Ib study, the effectiveness of three different forms of therapy for the treatment of visual neglect was assessed by comparing therapy outcomes in three groups of patients after cerebrovascular accidents. Methods:, A control group received only standard exploration training, whilst the second and third group received exploration training combined with either contralateral transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) or optokinetic stimulation (OKS) respectively. Results:, It was found that exploration training alone resulted in no improvement on both standard neglect tests (NTs) and everyday-relevant measures of reading and writing performance. In contrast, the groups receiving TENS or OKS showed significant improvements in both sets of measures with the difference that for the TENS group the improvement in NT scores at the end of therapy had disappeared 1-week later. However, both treatments resulted in significant improvements in reading and writing which were still present upon retesting 1-week after the end of therapy. Conclusion:, Both methods can be recommended for neglect therapy and are superior to exploration therapy alone. [source]


Clinical practice guidelines in clinical psychology and psychotherapy

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 6 2003
Glenys Parry
Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines have proliferated over the past two decades. Few are limited to psychological therapies or are targeted at clinical psychologists and psychotherapists , the UK guideline Treatment Choice in Psychotherapy and Counselling is a major exception. However, psychological therapies will increasingly be considered alongside medical treatments in diagnosis-specific guidelines. There has been interest and debate about the place of guidelines in the psychological therapies, with views ranging from scepticism to enthusiasm. This paper defines clinical practice guidelines, describes major guideline programmes internationally, examines guidelines of specific interest to psychologists and psychotherapists, explores issues in their implementation, reviews evidence for their effectiveness in changing practice and improving therapy outcomes and draws out implications for practice. Guidelines are only one aspect of informing psychologists and psychotherapists about best practice. They need to be supplemented by other clinical support methods and with methods of monitoring what is actually done in practice.,Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Treatment Integrity: Implications for Training

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2005
Ellen Flannery-Schroeder
Perepletchikova and Kazdin (this issue) reviewed the extant literature on the relationship between treatment integrity and therapy outcomes. The empirical literature on this relationship is inconsistent, and the authors note existing limitations in current research strategies and provide recommendations for future research efforts. This commentary explores the implications that a focus on treatment integrity has for training. As such, comments are offered on a number of conceptual, methodological, and practical issues relating to treatment integrity, instruction in empirically supported treatments, competence, and the training of future clinical psychologists. [source]