Nursing Competencies: Evaluation and Outcome Measures in Psychotherapy

Establishment of clear outcome measures, along with timely evaluation of interventions, is critical to understanding what works for the client. This chapter will discuss the therapeutic alliance and its influence on the success of therapy, provide an overview of outcome measurement and change indicators, present strategies for analysis, and discuss effective data collection methods. Measurement tools available to evaluate the strength of the therapeutic alliance and the efficacy of common psychotherapeutic treatment modalities will be explored. Key principles and challenges of evaluating psychotherapy will be described, along with recommendations for nurse psychotherapists to evaluate the care they provide. Lastly, the importance of culture-specific evaluation measures will be discussed, followed by the reinforcement of key concepts via a case example.