[The role of the therapist: the 'forgotten' factor in ROM]

Routine outcome monitoring (ROM) can only improve the quality of mental health care if the therapist is prepared to accept ROM-feedback. However, most implementation procedures tend to focus on the organisation of the measurements rather than on the role of the therapist.

To obtain a better understanding of the characteristics of the therapist which influence his/her attitude to the use of the feedback that ROM generates.

Therapists were asked to complete two questionnaires that measured their attitude to rom feedback. Six months later several therapists were asked to complete a questionnaire that measured the barriers of the use of ROM feedback.

Therapists with a preference for external feedback and therapists who felt that the feedback was valuable had a positive attitude to ROM. Barriers that prevented therapists from using feedback included the need to attend to other pressing tasks and a lack of time.

In ROM implementation procedures more attention needs to be given to the role of the therapist.