3. empirically supported tx: research methods + evidence based Flashcards
RCT steps to empirically evaluate psychotherapy, past and present definitions of ESTs
what are the 4 methods of evaluating psychotherapies
- case studies
- naturalistic studies
- quasi-experiments
- RCTs
in what context would it be best to use a case study?
best when studying completely new therapies
what are naturalistic studies? pros? cons?
- over long period of time
- usually with same patient
- con: usually the same people
what is quasi-experiment, and what is it usually used for?
- not a complete experiment
- comparing 2 experiments or tx
what does RCT stand for, what are their origins, what’s it used for?
- randomized controlled trials
- adopted from medicine
- used to determine cause and effect
name the 7 steps of RCT testing
- develop protocol
- choose comparison to tx of interest
- select participants of interest
- random assign participants to conditions
- administer tx and assess fidelity
- evaluate outcomes at end of tx
- evaluate outcomes at follow up time points
developing the protocol…
what are the 2 questions you need to ask yourself when developing the protocol?
- what is the tx? (what’s the model? what’s the tx technique?)
- how will it be administered? (is it standardized?)
what are the 3 types of comparison txs?
- waitlist
- supportive psychotherapy
- CBT (gold standard)
what is the difference between CBT and supportive psychotherapy?
support implies building a relationship w the patient as a baseline. usually includes just conversational therapy. CBT is the tested therapy in which there’s a little sprinkle sprinkle
what are the 2 things you need to consider when selecting participants?
- balancing concerns with internal and external validity
- finding participants that are representative of the population to which it’ll be generalized
what is internal validity?
quality of experimental design and control for extraneous factors
what is external validity?
will the results be generalizable?
what are the 2 factors that usually prevent researchers to have representative samples when selecting participants?
- demographic factors (usually causasion undergrads)
- comorbid dx (usually ask for non-comorbid)
why do we need random assignment?
minimizes pre-existing differences between groups that could affect the outcome
difference between single blind and double blind
double blind: both part and exp don’t know who gets what
single blind: part doesn’t know if they’re getting tx, exp knows
explain how to administer double blind experiment in the context of psychotherapy
… u can’t. lol.
what is a fidelity check? what is it used for?
fidelity checking is to make sure that the tx is administered adequately. researchers will use recordings and rate how well it’s being administered
what’s the biggest influence that could alter how a tx is being administered in the context of psychotherapy?
individual therapist factors
what kind of validity is being ruptured if the therapists aren’t administering the tx as outlined?
internal validity
how do you evaluate the outcome of a tx? on a px
there are 4 ways
- no longer meeting the DSM dx criteria
- decrease in target sx (not necessarily a full recovery)
- decrease in comorbid sx
- increase in functioning
what are 4 ways to evaluate the success of your tx?
- statistical significance
- effect size
- therapist and site effects
- people who drop out
what 2 things influence statistical significance?
- magnitude of effect
- sample size
what is an effect size?
magnitude of difference, independent of sample size
what’s the formula for Cohen’s d?
d = (x1-x2)/Sp
d = cohen’s d
x1 = mean exp
x2 = mean contr
Sp = SD of control group
