The evaluation, justification, and improvement of clinical psychology and psychotherapy in everyday clinical practice depends on practitioners maintaining not only their knowledge of advances in the science of mental disorder and in results from large-scale clinical research, but in learning from their own experience.

List of Figures.

List of Tables.

About the Authors.

Preface.

Introduction.

Quality Assurance in Mental Health.

Controlled Practice as Quality Assurance.

History of the Single-Case Approach.

Illustrating the Steps of Controlled Practice.

Diagnostics: A Graphical Problem Description.

A Graphical Treatment Explanation.

Therapy Process Questionnaire.

Data Collection.

Statistical Analysis.

A Documentation System for Controlled Practice.

References.

Index.

Continuous improvement, in the quality and effectiveness of therapy, is demanded by managers of health care, by patients and by therapists themselves. The audit and evaluation of therapy is an essential step in this improvement, but the demands of ongoing clinical practice are difficult to reconcile with those of traditional scientific evaluation. This book is meant to help the busy practitioner, and student in training, to evaluate their approach or treatment formulation, as well as their process of treatment, and key outcomes. The authors provide detailed guidelines on how to record diagnostic and treatment data from single-case work and how to analyse that data, including the use of computer processing. The focus on single-case study evaluation reflects the reality of clinical work for the individual practitioner; it helps to relate to the needs of individual patients, and helps therapists to make explicit the working theory of treatment which guides their planning of therapy.

This book offers a theory-based framework to controlled practice, a collaborative approach which involves therapists and patients as partners in a continuous optimization of psychotherapy. The authors present here the concepts, tools and detailed documentation for a practice-based approach to quality improvement in psychotherapy, which features

• a method of relating the therapist's working theory or conceptual approach to the needs of a specific patient
• well-tried and practical documentation for problem analysis and treatment planning
• a step-by-step guide to single-case analysis
• a documentation system for reviewing and improving therapy, that is, controlled practice.

All clinical psychologists, psychotherapists, psychiatrists, mental health nurses and counsellors who want to improve their ongoing clinical practice should read and use this book.

"This book will be an invaluable source of inspiration and practical guidance for the clinician seeking to improve the quality of psychotherapy with individual patients, through evaluation and controlled practice using single-case studies. Such approaches are now increasingly recognised as valid scientific tools, within research and evidence-based practice. This book helps to bridge the gap between the demands of scientists and practitioners." - Michael Bruch, Director of Cognitive Behavioural Psychotherapy Unit, University College London, UK

List of Figures. List of Tables. About the Authors. Preface. Introduction. Quality Assurance in Mental Health. Controlled Practice as Quality Assurance. History of the Single-Case Approach. Illustrating the Steps of Controlled Practice. Diagnostics: A Graphical Problem Description. A Graphical Treatment Explanation. Therapy Process Questionnaire. Data Collection. Statistical Analysis. A Documentation System for Controlled Practice. References. Index.