EFFECTS OF THE USE OF FEEDBACK IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: TWO CASE STUDIES

The research shows that the highest percentage of effectiveness in psychotherapy is due to a series of extra-therapeutic variables, among which the feedback provided in the therapeutic session stands out (Wampold & Imel, 2015).The way in which outcomes are evaluated in psychotherapy on which feedback is given to the patient is called Routine Outcome Monitoring (ROM), which consists of the periodic inter-session evaluation of the progress of psychological treatment.To evaluate the patient's progress throughout treatment, the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure (CORE;Evans et al., 2002) stands out, although there are few studies that have tested the effectiveness of its use.The objective of this work is to analyze the impact of the feedback that the therapist provides to the patient on their progress, based on the use of the CORE, in routine clinical practice.The sample was made up of two participants who were treated in private clinical practice, aged between 50 and 60 years, who presented anxiety-depressive problems of varying severity without other diagnoses.The instruments used were the CORE-18 and CORE-34 to evaluate the inter-session progress of the patients, the first composed of two parallel forms that alternate in their application, and the SCL-90-R (Derogatis, 1977) to evaluate clinical symptoms.The session-by-session CORE-18 scores, and the CORE-34 scores obtained every three months, were used to monitor progress and provide feedback to the patient about the evolution of treatment.Analysis of treatment effects was carried out using a single-case design, and statistical analyses were used to quantify the magnitude of the treatment effect, the reliability of the change, and its clinical significance (Jacobson & Truax, 1991).The results showed reliable and significant changes, with an effect size that qualified the treatment as very effective, in both participants.The results obtained allow us to conclude that the CORE questionnaire appears to be an effective tool for systematic monitoring of results, which has in turn proven useful for carrying out an effective intervention in patients with anxiety-depressive problems of different severity.