title: Therapist-client agreement in assessments of clients' functioning.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We aimed to assess the extent to which therapists' reports of client functioning track their clients' changing experience of their own functioning from session to session (temporal congruence) as well as the extent to which they over- or underestimate their clients' functioning (level or directional bias) and to examine whether these indices predict treatment outcomes.
  
  
  METHODS
  The participants included 384 clients who were treated by 77 therapists. Both clients and therapists rated the clients' functioning each session. The clients also completed pre- and posttreatment outcome measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Using multilevel modeling, we found that therapists' reports regarding their clients' functioning tended to be temporally congruent from session to session with their clients' reported functioning. In addition, on average, therapists did not show a level bias (i.e., did not over- or underestimate their clients' functioning). Finally, temporal congruence (but not level bias) predicted better treatment outcomes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings highlight the importance of tracking clients' fluctuating symptoms over time. Thus, we discuss their implication for the policy and practice of providing session-by-session feedback to therapists. (PsycINFO Database Record
authors: Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University.
authors: Eran
authors: E
authors: Bar-Kalifa
authors: Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University.
authors: Dana
authors: D
authors: Atzil-Slonim
authors: Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University.
authors: Eshkol
authors: E
authors: Rafaeli
authors: Department of Psychology, Bar-Ilan University.
authors: Tuvia
authors: T
authors: Peri
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Trier.
authors: Julian
authors: J
authors: Rubel
authors: Department of Psychology, University of Trier.
authors: Wolfgang
authors: W
authors: Lutz
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D013811:Psychotherapeutic Processes; D055815:Young Adult