The STIC Norway RCT Study: Using Feedback in Psychotherapy.

Psychological Feedback Clinical Trial

— STICNorway  

Official title:

The STIC Online Feedback System in Psychotherapy Process-outcome Research: A Multi-site, Multi-modality, International RCT-study.

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01873742
• Other study ID #: 1-Tilden
• Secondary ID: 2012/2/0275
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: June 1, 2013
• Est. completion date: October 15, 2016

Study information

• Verified date: April 2020
• Source: Modum Bad
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial 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.

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.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 328
• Est. completion date: October 15, 2016
• Est. primary completion date: October 15, 2016
• Accepts healthy volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers
• Gender: All
• Age group: 12 Years to 70 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• individuals,

• couples,

• families in Norwegian couple- and family therapy contexts

Exclusion Criteria:

• psychosis,

• current drug and alcohol abuse,

• violent and threatening behavior,

• not enable to understand Norwegian or English language.

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Psychological Feedback

Intervention

Other:
• STIC feedback system
This condition includes the use of the STIC feedback system.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Norway	Drammen - Kongsberg family agency	Drammen	Buskerud
Norway	ABUP, Sørlandet sykehus	Kristiansand	Vest Agder
Norway	Center for family and relationship, Modum Bad	Vikersund	Buskerud

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Modum Bad	Stiftelsen Helse og Rehabilitering

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Norway, 

References & Publications (1)

Pinsof WM, Zinbarg RE, Lebow JL, Knobloch-Fedders LM, Durbin E, Chambers A, Latta T, Karam E, Goldsmith J, Friedman G. Laying the foundation for progress research in family, couple, and individual therapy: the development and psychometric features of the initial systemic therapy inventory of change. Psychother Res. 2009 Mar;19(2):143-56. doi: 10.1080/10503300802669973. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Beck Depression Inventory II	The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II - Beck et al., 1995a) is a widely used 21-item self-report questionnaire assessing cognitive, affective, motivational, and physiological symptoms of depression and variation over time. Items are scored on a scale from 0 to 3 and the sum-score expressed the depth of the depression, graded from no clinical depression (0-9), through mild (10-19), moderate (20-29) and severe depression (30-63). The BDI shows adequate psychometric properties (Beck et al., 1995b).	The BDI was completed at the start and end of treatment. In this study the treatment length varied from two to 22 sessions.

External Links

•   Presentation of the Principle Investigator for the Norwegian STIC project
•   Presentation of the Psychotherapy Change Project which is the overarching project for the STIC system.