OBJECTIVES: Evaluations of the clinical effectiveness of cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) are scarce and therefore represent an urgent service and research need. This paper sought to evaluate a CAT service by profiling CAT clients, examining the outcomes achieved by the CAT service and also comparing such outcomes with those achieved by other services, namely the person-centred service and the cognitive-behavioural service. DESIGN: Patients in routine practice were matched according to the amount of therapy time received (either brief or medium-term contracts) and the degree of initial presenting psychological distress. METHODS: Patients completed a variety of validated scales of psychological functioning (Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-32)) at assessment and termination of psychological intervention. RESULTS: The results indicate broad similarities between the outcomes achieved by the services, with rates of clinically significant improvement comparable, in the main, across the three services. CONCLUSIONS: The results are discussed in terms of (a) the service delivery implications and (b) future indicated pragmatic research and evaluation efforts.
OBJECTIVES: Evaluations of the clinical effectiveness of cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) are scarce and therefore represent an urgent service and research need. This paper sought to evaluate a CAT service by profiling CAT clients, examining the outcomes achieved by the CAT service and also comparing such outcomes with those achieved by other services, namely the person-centred service and the cognitive-behavioural service. DESIGN:Patients in routine practice were matched according to the amount of therapy time received (either brief or medium-term contracts) and the degree of initial presenting psychological distress. METHODS:Patients completed a variety of validated scales of psychological functioning (Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP-32)) at assessment and termination of psychological intervention. RESULTS: The results indicate broad similarities between the outcomes achieved by the services, with rates of clinically significant improvement comparable, in the main, across the three services. CONCLUSIONS: The results are discussed in terms of (a) the service delivery implications and (b) future indicated pragmatic research and evaluation efforts.