Therapeutic assessment efficacy: A meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology

Background:

• Therapeutic Assessment (TA) is a collaborative psychological intervention.
• It utilizes psychological tests as "empathy magnifiers" to foster client change.
• Previous studies suggest TA is effective across diverse client populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a meta-analysis on the efficacy of Therapeutic Assessment with adult clients.
• To quantitatively synthesize findings from existing studies on TA's effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• A three-level meta-analysis was performed on nine studies.
• Included 42 dependent variables across treatment process, client symptoms, and self-enhancement outcomes.
• Analyzed moderator variables such as supervision and intervention duration.

Main Results:

• Therapeutic Assessment showed statistically significant positive effects across all outcome types.
• Improvements were noted in treatment process (g = .46), client symptoms (g = .34), and self-enhancement (g = .37).
• Moderator analyses indicated TA's resilience, with outcomes unaffected by specific implementation variations.

Conclusions:

• Therapeutic Assessment is a demonstrably effective intervention for adult clients.
• The core philosophy and values of TA appear more critical than specific procedural elements.
• TA's effectiveness is robust and not significantly altered by variations in its application.