On the role of theory in the postmodern integration of science and practice.

Comments on L. T. Hoshmand and D. E. Polkinghorne's (see record 1992-21300-001) article on redefining the science–practice relationship. Missing from their work is an account of the restrictions placed on theory by positivism. The challenge of postmodernism is not to look beyond theory for an assumption-free discovery of practitioner understanding but to expand the mechanistic and stage-based theoretical repertoires to include context-sensitive models of embodied psychological processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Duration and outcome in psychotherapy: An integrative review.

Research and practice trends are fueling a strong interest in brief therapy, highlighting the question of the relationship between treatment duration and outcome. A number of investigations have reported a weak or nonexistent relationship between duration and outcome, yielding the possible conclusion that there are few differences between brief and longer term treatments. A finer-grained analysis, however, based on such methodological factors as the nature, source, and timing of outcome measures, reveals intriguing dose–effect linkages within particular helping modalities. Summarizing process and outcome research, this article identifies potential client, therapist, and contextual mediators of the brevity of treatment. Recent research concerning stages of change within psychotherapy is advanced as an integrative framework that yields researchable hypotheses concerning the factors that facilitate outcomes at various points in the helping process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating science and practice in outcomes assessment: A bolder model for a managed era.

Changes in the financing of healthcare have created the need for large, multispecialty group practices capable of delivering a comprehensive array of services under capitation. The financial risk of capitation, together with demands for accountability with respect to the cost and quality of delivered services, require such groups to engage in ongoing data collection. The present article describes these integrated delivery systems as emboldened Boulder Model entities, in which the treatment site,rather than the individual clinician, is the locus of science–practice integration. This trend is leading group practices to tackle some of the most pressing issues in psychotherapy process and outcome research, promising new collaborative structures between academic institutions of research and training and multispecialty group practices. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)