Optimizing treatment expectations and decision making through informed consent for psychotherapy: A randomized...

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Psychology
• Informed Consent

Background:

• Informed consent is crucial for ethical psychotherapy.
• Optimizing the informed consent process can potentially enhance patient engagement and treatment outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy and safety of an optimized informed consent (OIC) consultation for psychotherapy.
• To assess the impact of OIC on patient expectations, motivation, adherence, decisional conflict, knowledge, capacity to consent, and satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled online trial was conducted with 122 adults diagnosed with mental disorders.
• Participants were randomized to either treatment as usual (TAU) or TAU plus a one-session OIC.
• The OIC incorporated expectation management, contextualization, framing, and shared decision-making.

Main Results:

• OIC significantly increased positive treatment expectations (d = 0.73), motivation (d = 0.74), and adherence intention (d = 0.46).
• OIC led to large reductions in decisional conflict (d = 0.91) and increases in knowledge (d = 0.93).
• Participants receiving OIC reported higher capacity to consent (d = 0.63) and satisfaction (d = 1.34) with no increase in expected adverse effects.

Conclusions:

• A brief OIC consultation effectively enhances psychotherapy treatment expectations and decision-making without harm.
• Further research is needed to determine if these improvements translate to better long-term treatment outcomes.