Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2007 Jul;27(6):682-95.
doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2007.01.007. Epub 2007 Jan 19.

Some methodological and statistical issues in the study of change processes in psychotherapy

Jean-Philippe Laurenceau  1 , Adele M Hayes, Greg C Feldman
Affiliations
Review

Some methodological and statistical issues in the study of change processes in psychotherapy

Jean-Philippe Laurenceau et al. Clin Psychol Rev. 2007 Jul.

Abstract

As the number of psychotherapies with demonstrated efficacy accumulates, an important task is to identify principles and processes of change. This information can guide treatment refinement, integration, and future development. However, the standard randomized control trial (RCT) design can limit the questions that can be asked and the statistical analyses that can be conducted. We discuss the importance of examining the shape of change, in addition to the importance of identifying mediators and moderators of change. We suggest methodological considerations for longitudinal data collection that can improve the kinds of therapy process questions that can be examined. We also review some data analytic approaches that are being used in other areas of psychology that have the potential to capture the complexity and dynamics of change in psychotherapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Three hypothetical trajectories of change over the course of therapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aguinis H. Statistical power problems with moderated multiple regression in management research. Journal of Management Research. 1995;21:1141–1158.
    1. Baron RM, Kenny DA. The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social psychological research: Conceptual, strategic and statistical considerations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1986;51:1173–1182. - PubMed
    1. Begg CB, Cho MK, Eastwood S, Horton R, Moher D, Olkin I, Rennie D, Schulz KF, Simel DL, Stroup DF. Improving the quality of reporting of randomized controlled trials: the CONSORT statement. Journal of the American Medical Association. 1996;276:637–639. - PubMed
    1. Bolger N, Davis A, Rafaeli E. Diary methods: Capturing life as it is lived. Annual Review of Psychology. 2003;54:579–616. - PubMed
    1. Boker SM. Differential structural modeling of intraindividual variability. In: Collins L, Sayer A, editors. New methods for the analysis of change. Washington, DC: APA; 2001.

Publication types

MeSH terms