Effectiveness of Therapy?

[Mary S]

26 minutes ago, Eve B said:

How would it be possible to collect more accurate data regarding true positive and negative outcomes, then?

The first step is for the researcher to care about negative outcomes, ask about them, and respect clients' negative feedback.

[zygomaticus]

1 hour ago, Mary S said:

The first step is for the researcher to care about negative outcomes, ask about them, and respect clients' negative feedback.

Yes, and perhaps there should be dedicated parts of the research team that have nothing to do with the therapy component and who remain as independent as possible, both so they can have a clear objective of collecting feedback and screening for any sign that the client may have felt obliged or pressured to respond a certain way to those conducting the therapy and the client/subject identifies them as independent. Ideally, there should be someone different when it comes to the longer term feedback, and the client/subject should have it stressed to them that all feedback they give won't be identifiable to them, in case they worry about seeming critical or their later feedback being at odds with anything they said at the time they took part in the trial. I can't see this being done with any integrity or commitment, however if it's simply not in the team's career oriented interests to do so.

Better still, an entirely independent body should be responsible for collecting feedback. When one team under one supervisor conduct research of this nature, there is always the risk of data being manipulated, but this is sadly part of a flawed system of institutional biases. Journals also have to be more open to publishing studies that show negative results.