Lending an ear to feedback systems: evaluation of recovery and non-response in psychotherapy in a German outpatient setting.

Systems providing feedback on treatment progress have been implemented in outpatient psychotherapy. They are recognized as a helpful tool to identify possible treatment failures. This report presents the ideas underlying the planning of feedback interventions and the implementation of such programs into practice settings. Strategies to identify patients at risk for treatment failure (rationally- and empirically-derived decision rules) are presented. Additionally, evidence for the usefulness of feedback systems is discussed. The report ends with the description of an ongoing feedback intervention study in private practices in Germany (aimed at gathering information on 400 therapists with 2,000 patients).