[The outcome questionnaire 45.2. Italian validation of an instrument for the assessment of psychological treatments].
OBJECTIVE
The Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2; Lambert et al., 2004) was designed to measure important areas of functioning (symptoms, interpersonal problems and social role functioning) that are of central interest in mental health. The cross-cultural validity of the OQ-45.2 in the Italian population has been examined by comparing the psychometric properties and equivalence in factor structure and normative scores of the Italian OQ with the original American version.


METHODS
Data were collected at university (N = 461), in community (N = 61) and in three mental health care organisations (N = 301).


RESULTS
Results showed that the psychometric properties of the Italian OQ were adequate and similar to the original instrument. The CFA supported the multidimentional construct system of the instrument. Furthermore, normative scores were different for the Italian and American samples and this resulted in different cutoff scores for estimating clinically significant change in the Italian population.


CONCLUSIONS
The Italian version of the OQ-45.2 appears promising as a measure of general psychological distress, and it could be used to measure the psychotherapy outcome in routine clinical practice.
Chiappelli
Marco
M
Dipartimento di Salute Mentale, Azienda USL di Bologna, Bologna. marco.chiappelli@ausl.bologna.it
Lo Coco
Gianluca
G
Gullo
Salvatore
S
Bensi
Luca
L
Prestano
Claudia
C
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome