Guidelines Empirically Based Treatments (Ebts) Class Presentation

Guidelines Empirically Based Treatments (Ebts) Class Presentation

Guidelines Empirically Based Treatments (EBTs) Class Presentation

HPLS 8334 Spring 2018

The purpose of this project is to:

  1. Deliver a presentation regarding a psychotherapy approach of interest that has been examined via randomized clinical trial studies (RCTs) (typically such therapies have been designed to treat a specific concern with a specific population ; e.g. Inter-personal Therapy (IPT) for depression with adults or with adolescents; PTSD with survivors of child abuse; CBT to treat cocaine addiction), and ,
  2. Facilitate a class discussion regarding the critical evaluation of the internal and external validity of a published report of an RCT of the therapeutic approach of interest.

Either individually or in groups of two (2) students:

  1. Identify a treatment and population of interest for which RCTs and at least one published meta-analyses of RCTs exist.
  2. Locate two articles:
  1. A meta-analysis of RCTs for that particular treatment/group. The meta-analyses can include studies that have examined the absolute efficacy of the treatment, compared it to another treatment, or compared it to treatment as usual (TAU).
  2. Select a published paper of an RCT for that particular treatment/group. Send an electronic copy of the presentation’s RCT article to classmates and instructor by March 87h, 2018.
  1. Locate descriptive information about the treatment, preferably the manual for the treatment (sometimes those are books, other times they are available in the internet), to obtain descriptive information of the treatment. If you find a manual for the treatment, examine to what extent it meets the criteria established by Najavits et al. (2000) Manual Evaluation Form (included here).
  1. Deliver a class presentation that includes:
  1. Information about the treatment, what are its specific ingredients (essential and unique interventions, acceptable but not unique, and not acceptable interventions). For an example, see description of CBT for Cocaine addiction at https://archives.drugabuse.gov/TXManuals/CBT/CBT3.html#Active
  1. Characteristics of the Manual (see Najavits et al. 2000 rating form).
  1. Results of the meta-analyses. In reviewing, the meta-analyses refer to the issues covered in the readings assigned for Class 5- February 14th (e.g. effects sizes, meaning of effect sizes, findings of moderation analyses, ect.).
  • Lead a class discussion of a critique of the chosen psychotherapy outcome study, including adequacy of the RCT’s research and statistical methods and practice implications of findings with diverse populations, according to the criteria presented in Heppner et al. (2015) Chapter 5 and discussed in class regarding Leichsenring et al. (2009) article (using the same table).

Places to look for empirically based treatments (in addition to Goggle and the library data bases) include:

1 Division 12 web site Research Supported Psychotherapy Treatments at Read information under the FAQ tab and browse the Disorders and Treatments Tabs

2 Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: Access the Cochrane Reviews Collection from the UH Library electronic resources data base. You can search by disorder (e.g. depression) or by topic group (e.g. Common mental disorders; Drugs and alcohol).

At the end of the presentation all students hand-in the critical analyses of the chosen psychotherapy outcome study that the presenters focused on. Follow the format of the table used in class #4 to examine the McCabe and Yeh (2009) RCT article.

Manual Evaluation Form

Title of Manual: Author:

In the last column write in the number that indicates how important is each piece for the manual to be useful: 1= not important; 2 = important ; 3 = very important
Rating: 0 = Manual does not provide; 1 = Poor; 2= Adequate;
3 = Good; 4 = Very Good -mark the appropriate Column-) / Mark the appropriate # / Impor-tance
Does the Manual Provide / 0 / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / Write-in
1 ,2, or 3
  1. Description of specific techniques

  1. Description of possible solutions to frequently encountered problems in using the treatment

  1. Theoretical rationale for the treatment approach

  1. Description of frequently encountered problems in using the treatment

  1. In session materials to hand out to patients (e.g., worksheets, homework assignments, self. monitoring materials)

  1. A structured approach (a session-by-session plan, homework assignments for each session, main points to cover, etc.)

  1. Research (empirical support for the treatment approach)

  1. Contraindications of the treatment or some of its techniques (warnings on when not to use it)

  1. A summary of main points for each session

  1. A bibliography of further readings

  1. Transcripts of patient-therapist dialogue

  1. Case material (e.g., case histories)

  1. Flexible options (e.g., a menu of different options from which the therapist can choose)

  1. Background material describing clinical characteristics of the targeted patient population

  1. Process comments (i.e., descriptions of tone to set, style issues)

  1. Visual material: illustrations, charts, graphs, cartoons

  1. An adherence scale that specifies how to rate a therapist for how well she or he complies with the manual

  1. A videotape to accompany the manual, demonstrating actual in-session techniques and procedures

  1. A self-quiz to test the therapist's knowledge of the material

  1. Quizzes to test the patients' knowledge of the material

Taken from: Najavits, L.M., Weiss, R. D. Shaw, S. R., Dierberger, A. E. (2000). Psychotherapists' Views of Treatment Manuals. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 51, 404-408.

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