title: A long-term follow-up study of a cohort of referrals to an adult mental health clinical psychology department.
abstract: The study, using the SCL-90-R, investigated the long-term outcome of clinical psychology interventions with adults by contacting 95 clients between five and eight years after initial contact. Post-treatment improvements in global psychological well-being were generally maintained at long-term follow-up. About a quarter of clients, however, did not report any improvement in the initial problem and about a half had received help from other services since ending contact with the department. The study provides encouraging evidence of long-term benefits for many clients, but we suggest a reconsideration of the optimal provision of psychological help for people whose problems may be enduring and/or recurrent.
authors.affiliation: Leicestershire Mental Health Service NHS Trust, UK.
authors.forename: L M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Ambrose
authors.forename: E J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Button
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Ormrod
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011586:Psychology, Clinical / Q000592:standards*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000592:standards*; D006113:United Kingdom