The STIC Norway RCT Study: Using Feedback in Psychotherapy.
Condition: Psychological Feedback
Study type: Interventional

Summary: 
      Feedback in psychotherapy involves clients monitoring therapy process and progress, and on a
      frequent basis clients register these data into online questionnaires. These data are then
      fed back to the therapist, hence informing about the process and progress in therapy. This
      information can be shared with the client, something that may enhance the client involvement
      in evaluating and planning of the therapy. The same data can be used for research purpose.
      This randomized controlled multicenter study within Norwegian couple and family contexts will
      explore the effects of feedback in natural settings, and it collaborates closely with a
      similar American study in Chicago/Evanston, Ill.
    

Detailed description: 
      The improvement rate in psychotherapy is generally regarded as 50%, while 10% of clients
      deteriorate after therapy. This indicates a potential for improvement. Research shows that in
      therapies with the lack of progress, the clients rarely express dissatisfaction about
      progress to their therapists, and parallel, these therapists consider the therapies to
      proceed in the right direction. There is therefore a need for more knowledge about (a) how to
      obtain reliable information about the therapy progress and process monitored frequently
      during the course of therapy, and (b) that this information is fed back to the therapist and
      the client so that they (c) jointly can evaluate and adjust the aims and means for improving
      the therapy, something that may (d) enable them to test more appropriate approaches. This
      clinical practice should also enhance the client collaboration and empowerment in therapy,
      hopefully leading to higher recovery rate, shorter treatments, and reduced drop-out. To date,
      there is limited research on whether and how the use of feedback can contribute to improved
      outcomes. Such research is especially lacking in couple and family therapy. In a 3-year
      Norwegian pilot project at the Center for Family and relationships, Modum Bad, Department of
      Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Sørlandet Sykehus, and at Ålesund family counseling
      office, the online-based feedback system STIC (Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change) has been
      implemented and tested. The clinical experience is positive, and the system is considered
      suitable. This project has evolved parallel to a similar project at the Family Institute at
      Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill., supervised by the founder of the STIC system,
      professor William M. Pinsof. The project now enters a new phase by conducting a randomized,
      controlled trial (RCT) at three Norwegian couple- and family therapy sites in collaboration
      with five American psychotherapy sites to investigate whether the use of ongoing feedback is
      associated to more effective therapy compared with therapy without use of feedback.
    

Intervention name(s): STIC feedback system
Intervention type(s): Other
Intervention description(s): This condition includes the use of the STIC feedback system.
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Psychotherapy feedback