| Program evaluation is an important component of effective and accountable mental health treatment, providing information that facilitates the care of individual psychotherapy patients and that guides the formulation of national healthcare policy. Currently, however, relatively few service providers are capable of performing routine assessments of their patients' therapeutic outcomes; a fact that is precipitating growing skepticism among third-party payers, healthcare policymakers, the scientific community, and the general public. In order to provide treatment stakeholders with the information that they need to make the most beneficial decisions regarding mental healthcare, and to help service providers to ensure their ongoing professional viability, this dissertation outlines the conceptual, methodological, and technological elements of a functional program evaluation design for routine psychotherapy practice.;Single-group, quasi-experimental research designs represent a logistically feasible and informative method for evaluating the effectiveness of applied mental health treatment programs. A sound conceptual framework ensures that program effectiveness is evaluated across the many domains and contexts of treatment outcome, and across a broad range of social perspectives, Accountable outcome measures address the goals of all relevant treatment stakeholders, and provide information that is practical for clinical decision-making. Clinical significance criteria measure psychotherapy outcomes and treatment stability in terms of meaningful (i.e., socially valid) and readily interpretable changes in patients' clinical status. Loglinear statistical techniques provide further detailed information about the relationships between consequential treatment moderating variables (e.g., therapeutic dosage and diagnostic severity) and psychotherapy outcomes.;Program evaluation success is contingent upon the development and rehearsal of consistent assessment and data management procedures, and is ensured by obtaining the support of administrative and therapeutic staffs prior to implementing program evaluation projects. Computer automation facilitates the collection and storage of accurate and complete patient assessment data, and greatly reduces the amount of time, money, and statistical expertise that are required to produce reports of patients' clinical status and program-wide outcomes. Hence, computer automation enhances the reliability and validity of program evaluation projects, and provides mental health practitioners and program managers with the much-needed technology for demonstrating the ongoing value and utility of their therapeutic services. |
