The treatment outcome package: facilitating practice and clinically relevant research.

As an effort to foster the use of standardized data in clinical practice, this article discusses an outcome measure developed by clinicians for use in naturalistic settings: the treatment outcome package (TOP). In addition to describing how the TOP can be used in day-to-day practice, the article illustrates how its multidimensional structure can inform several aspects of clinical work, such as the development of case formulations, facilitation of client-therapist communication, tracking (positive and negative) change during treatment, and the documentation of specific area of therapist expertise. This article recognizes the challenges and drawbacks that are associated with the use of a standardized outcome measure and also describes three ways by which the TOP can contribute to the strengthening of the relationship between research and practice. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.