Assessing Processes of Change in Psychological Interventions: The Process-Based Assessment Tool (PBAT)
Abstract
The “protocols for syndromes” approach to evidence-based psychological intervention has failed the test of scientific progressivity. Process-based therapy provides an alternative model that is focused on treatment elements that target biopsychosocial processes of relevance to individual treatment goals. That shift in focus requires new, more integrative and idionomic models that identify key processes of change, using high temporal density measurement applied at the level of the person. Standard measurement validation approaches are inadequate to this challenge. The present study develops and provides a preliminary validation of a process-based assessment tool (PBAT) -- an item pool meant for intensive longitudinal clinical assessment. Developed using the Extended-Evolutionary Meta-Model of PBT and evaluated using an evolutionary algorithm appropriate for the evaluation of individual items, we administered the PBAT online to a representative sample of 598 participants (290 male; 302 female; 6 unidentified. Mage = 32.6). Analyses revealed that the PBAT distinguishes between positive and negative processes, links in theoretically coherent ways to need satisfaction and thwarting, and links to clinically relevant outcomes of sadness, anger, anxiety, stress, lack of social support, vitality, and health. The PBAT provides a beginning step towards developing a process-based tool that allows clinicians and researchers to select individual items or sets of items for individual-focused…
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It has been suggested that researchers consider a more idiographic approach to identify underlying processes of clinical change, using high temporal density and contextualized measurement applied at the level of the person.
“It has been suggested that researchers consider a more idiographic approach in order to identify underlying processes of clinical change, using high temporal density and contextualized measurement applied at the level of the person (Ciarrochi et al., 2021; Hofmann and Hayes, 2019).”
From Online ACT intervention for fibromyalgia: An exploratory study of feasibility and preliminary effectiveness with smartphone-delivered experiential sampling assessment (2022) · cites this paper as Ciarrochi et al., 2021
Different researchers have recently pointed out the limitations of analyzing processes of clinical change by exclusively relying on a nomothetic framework, with standardized measures collected in situations removed from the individual's natural context.
“Different researchers have recently pointed out the limitations of analyzing processes of clinical change by exclusively relying on a nomothetic framework, with standardized measures of process and outcome variables collected in situations removed from the individual's natural context (Ciarrochi et al., 2021; Lavefjord et al., 2021).”
From Online ACT intervention for fibromyalgia: An exploratory study of feasibility and preliminary effectiveness with smartphone-delivered experiential sampling assessment (2022) · cites this paper as Ciarrochi et al., 2021
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The Future of Intervention Science: Process-Based Therapy
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de la Coba, P., Rodríguez-Valverde, M., & Hernández-López, M. (2022) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2022.100561 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“…pointed out the limitations of analyzing processes of clinical change by exclusively relying on a nomothetic framework, with standardized measures of process and outcome variables collected in situations removed from the individual's natural context (Ciarrochi et al., 2021; Lavefjord et al., 2021).”
BackgroundStangier, U., Kohl, V., Görg, N., Sendig, L., Hufschmidt, B., Bonarius, D., Nemani, A., Ebert, M., & Hofmann, S. G. (2024) · Trials · doi:10.1186/s13063-024-08689-3 · Cited by 2 · see citing works
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- Authors
- Ciarrochi, J., Hayes, S. C., Hofmann, S. G., & Sahdra, B. K.
- Affiliations
- University of Nevada, Reno (US)
- Boston University (US)
- Philipps University of Marburg (DE)
- Australian Catholic University (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Ciarrochi, Joseph
- Publisher
- Center for Open Science
- Published
- 2021-10-10
- OpenAlex
- W4250437060
- Cited by
- 8
- References
- 13
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2024: 3 · 2022: 3
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- PsyArXiv (OSF Preprints) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Keywords
- process-based therapy, change processes, intensive longitudinal data, evolutionary algorithms, need satisfaction, need thwarting, psychological intervention
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