| Our therapists use standard surveys like the DASS-21, PHQ-9, GAD-7, etc. to track treatment progress over time. Standard measures like these are really good at measuring changes in an individual's symptoms over time. A therapist usually assigns these surveys every week or every other week. The surveys have questions such as, "Rate how much the statement applied to you over the past week: I found it hard to wind down." or "I felt I wasn't worth much as a person.' And then your answers contribute to a 'score' for whatever the survey is measuring (e.g. level of anxiety). You can google any of the form names to see the full question list–the ones we use are open source. As an example, DASS-21 measures stress, anxiety, and depression levels in a individual at a scale of 0-34. Let's say that in the beginning of treatment, a client measures at 18-16-30 (18 depression, 16 anxiety, 30 stress). Overtime, you'd want to see a reduction in those scores. Research shows that routinely tracking outcomes with measures like these leads to better outcomes but most therapists don't do it! This is one thing we're trying to change at Kip. Here are some good articles on why using standard measures to track outcomes makes care more effective: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4910387/ https://www.thekennedyforum.org/news/measurement-based-care-... https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/04/what-yo... ( linked to it in an earlier response) |