Objective measurement of effectiveness of psychological consulting services

Abstract

We investigated whether or not physiological signals reflect the effectiveness of a psychological consultation. Participants (N = 108 college students) rated the quality of a consulting service. We recorded their vital signs before and after the consultation session, and eye-related signals during the consulting process. Results of paired samples t tests showed that body temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure had changed significantly after the consultation and degree of the changes was closely correlated with the participants' subjective ratings. Further, results of a 1-way analysis of variance showed that the change in eye-blinking rate and frequency of pupil size fluctuation were aligned with the consulting session outcome. Our results indicate that vital signs and eye-related signals are effective measures to evaluate the effectiveness of psychological consulting services.