The Therapy Progress Scale: A Brief Measure of Life Functioning for Routine Administration in Measurement-Based Care (Preprint)

Abstract

Measurement-based care (MBC) is an evidence-based practice endorsed by the American Psychological Association and supported by strong research evidence. MBC is underpinned by the routine administration of assessments supporting a data-driven approach to clinical decision making. Nonetheless, there is a need for brief, non-proprietary measures assessing non-symptom-based treatment outcomes. The present study examined the psychometric properties of the Therapy Progress Scale (TPS), a four-item measure that assesses patients’ perspective of treatment progress in multiple life functioning domains. The sample included 36,420 clients (sex: 29% male, 66% female, 5% missing; race/ethnicity: 55.5% White, 31.5% Racial/Ethnic Minority [REM], and 13% missing) from a practice-research group of private practitioners. The TPS demonstrated a one-factor solution with high reliability estimate. Additionally, the factor structure was consistent across client sex and race/ethnicity. There were moderate negative correlations with symptom-based measures (i.e., PHQ-9, GAD-7). With a subsample, the test-retest correlation was also strong. Implications for research and practice are provided.