Abstract

RIVERA MEDINA, Carmen L.  and  BERNAL, Guillermo. La medición en el cambio psicoterapéutico: hacia una práctica psicológica basada en la evidencia y la medición. Rev. Puertorriq. Psicol. [online]. 2008, vol.19, pp. 223-244. ISSN 1946-2026.

Evidence Based Psychological Practice (EBPP) presupposes an evaluation of psychotherapeutic change. This article describes different ways of understanding and measuring therapeutic change and places it under the EBPP movement. After presenting the basic elements of EBPP, statistical procedures and the recommended methods to measure therapeutic change are examined: t-ests, ANOVAS, Effect Size, Reliable Change Index, and Clinical Significance. Examples using research conducted at the Institute of Psychological Research (IPsi) at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus are presented as a way of providing tools for psychologists and other professionals about the available strategies to evalúate therapeutic change in practice. Through the various research examples presented, different ways of building evidence and measuring therapeutic change are illustrated. We presuppose that measurement is essential for the evaluation of psychotherapeutic change and alternative ways are presented to measure if what is done during therapy is effective for each patient. Finally, we suggest the possibility of measuring psychological change in individual practice both in the public and the prívate sectors so these experiences of such evaluation may contribute to the body of evidence that informs EBPP.

Keywords : Measurement; Therapeutic change; Evidence-Based-Practice-Practice (EBPP).