The DOI matches its Crossref record; 15 of the 15 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
An Investigation of Self-Assessment Bias in Mental Health Providers
Abstract
Previous research has consistently found self-assessment bias (an overly positive assessment of personal performance) to be present in a wide variety of work situations. The present investigation extended this area of research with a multi-disciplinary sample of mental health professionals. Respondents were asked to: (a) compare their own overall clinical skills and performance to others in their profession, and (b) indicate the percentage of their clients who improved, remained the same, or deteriorated as a result of treatment with them. Results indicated that 25% of mental health professionals viewed their skill to be at the 90th percentile when compared to their peers, and none viewed themselves as below average. Further, when compared to the published literature, clinicians tended to overestimate their rates of client improvement and underestimate their rates of client deterioration. The implications of this self-assessment bias for improvement of psychotherapy outcomes are discussed.
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“Why should we be concerned about our abilities if we already believe that we (and our supervisees) are far better than the average clinician (e.g., Dennhag et al., 2012; Parker & Waller, 2015; Walfish et al, 2012)?”
From Therapist drift redux: Why well-meaning clinicians fail to deliver evidence-based therapy, and how to get back on track (2016) · cites this paper as Walfish et al, 2012
Citations
Cites
Flawed Self-Assessment: Implications for Health, Education, and the Workplace
Dunning, D., Heath, C., & Suls, J. M. (2004) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1111/j.1529-1006.2004.00018.x · Cited by 1,865
Grove, W. M., & Meehl, P. E. (1996) · Psychology, Public Policy, and Law · doi:10.1037/1076-8971.2.2.293 · Cited by 1,457
John, O. P., & Robins, R. W. (1994) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.66.1.206 · Cited by 1,011
The psychotherapy dose-response effect and its implications for treatment delivery services.
Hansen, N. B., Lambert, M. J., & Forman, E. M. (2002) · Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy.9.3.329 · Cited by 783 · cited 1×
“Hansen, Lambert, and Forman (2002) reported 1Address correspondence to Dr. Michael J. Lambert, Department of Psychology, Brigham Young University, 272 Taylor Building, Provo, UT 84602. that in routine clinical practice a minority of clients recover or improve using clinically significant change…”
BackgroundClinical versus Statistical Prediction.
Sletto, R. F., & Meehl, P. E. (1955) · American Sociological Review · doi:10.2307/2092752 · Cited by 629
A lab test and algorithms for identifying clients at risk for treatment failure.
Hannan, C. R., Lambert, M., Harmon, C., Nielsen, S. L., Smart, D., Shimokawa, K., & Sutton, S. (2005) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.20108 · Cited by 550
How chronic self-views influence (and potentially mislead) estimates of performance.
Ehrlinger, J., & Dunning, D. (2003) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.1.5 · Cited by 480
Enhancing psychotherapy outcomes via providing feedback on client progress: a replication
Lambert, M. J., Whipple, J. L., Vermeersch, D. A., Smart, D. W., Hawkins, E. J., Nielsen, S. L., & Goates, M. (2002) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.324 · Cited by 306
Self-citationOkiishi, J. C., Lambert, M. J., Eggett, D. L., Arendt‐Nielsen, L., Dayton, D. D., & Vermeersch, D. A. (2006) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.20272 · Cited by 254
The therapeutic effects of providing patient progress information to therapists and patients
Hawkins, E. J., Lambert, M. J., Vermeersch, D. A., Slade, K. L., & Tuttle, K. C. (2004) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1093/ptr/kph027 · Cited by 230
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Implementing routine outcome monitoring in clinical practice: Benefits, challenges, and solutions
Boswell, J. F., Kraus, D. R., Miller, S. D., & Lambert, M. J. (2015) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2013.817696 · Cited by 494
Expanding the lens of evidence-based practice in psychotherapy: A common factors perspective.
Laska, K. M., Gurman, A. S., & Wampold, B. E. (2014) · Psychotherapy · doi:10.1037/a0034332 · Cited by 443
Collecting and delivering progress feedback: A meta-analysis of routine outcome monitoring.
Lambert, M. J., Whipple, J. L., & Kleinstäuber, M. (2018) · Psychotherapy · doi:10.1037/pst0000167 · Cited by 440
de Jong, K., Conijn, J. M., Gallagher, R. A. V., Reshetnikova, A. S., Heij, M., & Lutz, M. C. (2021) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2021.102002 · Cited by 417
Guidelines for clinical supervision in health service psychology.
(2015) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/a0038112 · Cited by 302
Metadata
- Authors
- Walfish, S., McAlister, B., O'Donnell, P., & Lambert, M. J.
- Affiliations
- Brigham Young University (US)
- Kennesaw State University (US)
- Kennesaw State University
- ORCID
- Lambert, Michael J.
- Venue
- Psychological Reports
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-04
- Volume
- 110
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 639-644
- ISSN
- 0033-2941 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-691X
- OpenAlex
- W2067920169
- Cited by
- 394
- References
- 15
- Citations by year
- 2026: 26 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 25 · 2022: 41 · 2021: 38 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 34 · 2018: 35 · 2017: 39 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 20 · 2013: 6
- FWCI
- 18.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Reports (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DigitalCommons - Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw State University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
- Keywords
- self-assessment bias, mental health professionals, overconfidence, clinical skills, peer comparison, client outcomes, treatment outcome expectations, psychotherapy outcome, self-perception
- MeSH terms
- Culture, Data Collection, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Private Practice, Professional Competence, Psychotherapy, Self-Assessment, United States, Bias, Treatment Outcome
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