Author ORCID Identifier
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-1-2004
Abstract
This article presents outcome data from an ongoing nonintrusive method for evaluating counseling services. Applied to one agency's delivery of solution-focused brief therapy, the method is brief and easily integrated into clinical practice. Using two scaling questions (one to measure daily functioning and the other to measure emotional coping), clinicians asked clients in every session to rate on a scale of 0 to 10 their present status on two dimensions. Data were collected by 40 professional counselors providing services to 3,920 cases during a 2-year period, averaging three counseling sessions per case. Analyses demonstrated statistically significant findings for both functioning and coping regardless of the number of sessions and client system (i.e., individual or couple and family). The research demonstrates a clinically useful method for assessing counseling services in process and illustrates the improvements in functioning and coping experienced by clients concurrent within their participation in counseling.
Keywords
family counseling, outcome measurement, self-report data
Publication Title
Research on Social Work Practice
Volume
14
Issue
2
First Page
102
Last Page
111
Rights
This article is protected by copyright and reuse is restricted to non-commercial and no derivative uses. Users may also download and save a local copy of an article accessed in an institutional repository for the user's personal reference. Contact publisher for permission to reuse. This is a peer reviewed Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Sage in Research on Social Work Practice, available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/104973150325786
Recommended Citation
Fischer, R. L. (2004). Assessing Client Change in Individual and Family Counseling. Research on Social Work Practice, 14(2), 102-111. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049731503257868