Naturalistic changes in subjective distress outside of therapy.
OBJECTIVE
To establish the effectiveness or efficacy of psychological interventions, it is important to understand the nature of changes that occur in the absence of therapy.


METHODS
In this study, clinically distressed college students from 2 universities (n = 228) completed the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ)-45.2 on a weekly basis throughout a single semester.


RESULTS
Although 56.6% of the sample made no change or deteriorated, 43.4% made a reliable improvement. Change status was predicted by previous therapy experience and length of study participation. Multilevel growth modeling also indicated that participants' OQ-45.2 scores decreased over time (following a cubic trend) and the amount of decrease was associated with Time 1 OQ-45.2 scores.


CONCLUSIONS
Limitations of the study and further implications for treatment outcome research are discussed.
University of Alaska Anchorage.
Joshua K
JK
Swift
Jennifer L
JL
Callahan
Gregory L
GL
Herbert
Christopher J
CJ
Heath
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D063868:Patient Outcome Assessment; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult