Criteria of Progress in Child Psychotherapies According to Psychotherapists

Abstract

This study aimed to perform a survey with psychotherapists, regarding the criteria they consider relevant to measure the progress of children in psychotherapy and whether the criteria indicated by them differ according to the therapist’s theoretical approach. Therapists were contacted electronically and answered a questionnaire composed of items with criteria of positive change present in the literature. Participants were 154 child therapists from different regions of Brazil. The analysis regarding the criteria of positive change that the participants indicated and their theoretical approach suggested that, despite the theoretical differences, in practice psychotherapists seem to adopt similar criteria to interpret progress in child psychotherapies. The criteria mentioned may be useful for a better systematization of the psychotherapy techniques for children. However, due to the lack of elements to evaluate the sample’s representativeness, caution is advised in generalizing the results.