Assessing clinically significant change: application to the SCL-90-R.
A Symptom Checklist (SCL-90-R) is a potentially useful measure of psychological distress; it is frequently used in psychotherapy research and clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to illustrate the use of the SCL-90-R for determining statistically reliable change and clinical significance outlined by Jacobson and Truax in 1991. This paper describes the concepts of statistical and clinical significance of change. A proposal for obtaining and characterizing samples is made. Then a clinician's perspective is taken. Reliable change estimates and cut-off scores are chosen based on outcome data. Selected data from a single psychotherapeutic process and outcome study then were used to test the estimates of change and cut-off scores.
Schmitz
N
N
Clinic for Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Heinrich-Heine-University, Düsseldorf, Germany. schmitzn@uni-duesseldorf.de
Hartkamp
N
N
Franke
G H
GH
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018579:Patient Selection; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D011602:Psychophysiologic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011613:Psychotherapy