title: Patient-focused and feedback research in psychotherapy: Where are we and where do we want to go?
abstract: In the last 15 years feedback interventions have had a significant impact on the field of psychotherapy research and have demonstrated their potential to enhance treatment outcomes, especially for patients with an increased risk of treatment failure. This article serves as an introduction to the special issue on "Patient-focused and feedback research in psychotherapy: Where are we and where do we want to go?" Current investigations on feedback research are concerned with potential moderators and mediators of these effects, as well as the design and the implementation of feedback into routine care. This introduction summarizes the current state of feedback research and provides an overview of the three main research topics in this issue: (1) How to implement feedback systems into routine practice and how do therapist and patient attitudes influence its effects?, (2) How to design feedback reports and decision support tools?, and (3) What are the reasons for patients to become at risk of treatment failure and how should therapists intervene with these patients? We believe that the studies included in this special issue reflect the current state of feedback research and provide promising pathways for future endeavors that will enhance our understanding of feedback effects.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Trier , Trier , Germany.
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lutz
authors.affiliation: b Department of Clinical Psychology , Leiden University , Leiden , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Kim
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: De Jong
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Trier , Trier , Germany.
authors.forename: Julian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rubel
mesh_terms: D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods*; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000379:methods*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*
keywords: feedback; mediators and moderators; outcome management; patient-focused-research; routine outcome monitoring (ROM)