title: [Retrospective follow-up design in studying psychotherapeutic effectiveness--criteria and application].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Efficacy-studies have poor external validity for psychotherapy under practice conditions. One alternative is a retrospective follow-up design. Methodological criteria are defined and a study is presented.
  
  
  METHODS
  35 and 33 patients including their therapists were studied in a cross-validation design using retrospective assessments.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Changes from beginning to end of therapy were reliable and reached medium to high effect sizes. During follow-up they remained stable. Participants did not differ in outcome, social and clinical characteristics from non-participants.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The retrospective approach is a valid and viable tool to examine the effectiveness of psychotherapy under practice-conditions. It should be advanced in future by methodological improvements, e. g., by using standardized instruments, testing bigger samples, integrating more differentiated therapist ratings, and including more objective criteria.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Psychologie, Universität Salzburg, Salzburg, Österreich.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fuchs-Strizek
authors.forename: Anton-Rupert
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Laireiter
authors.forename: Urs
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Baumann
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hessler
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011613:Psychotherapy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012107:Research Design / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome