title: Causal client models in selecting effective interventions: a cognitive mapping study.
abstract: An important reason to choose an intervention to treat psychological problems of clients is the expectation that the intervention will be effective in alleviating the problems. The authors investigated whether clinicians base their ratings of the effectiveness of interventions on models that they construct representing the factors causing and maintaining a client's problems. Forty clinical child psychologists drew causal models and rank ordered interventions according to their expected effectiveness for 2 cases. The authors found that different clinicians constructed different causal models for the same client. Also, the authors found low to moderate agreement about the effectiveness of different interventions. Nevertheless, the authors could predict clinicians' ratings of effectiveness from their individual causal models.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Montessorilaan 3, 6525 HR Nijmegen, the Netherlands. l.dekwaadsteniet@socsci.ru.nl
authors.forename: Leontien
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: de Kwaadsteniet
authors.forename: York
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hagmayer
authors.forename: Nicole P C M
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Krol
authors.forename: Cilia L M
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Witteman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D011586:Psychology, Clinical / Q000379:methods*; D011613:Psychotherapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome