The Individualised Patient-Progress System: A decade of international collaborative networking

Abstract

Background: The backstage of research projects is seldom presented to the general audience, in particular, how the research questions emerged, how the team interacted and how the methods and design were decided upon. Aim: In this paper we will recount the story behind an international practice-based research network for personalising health assessment, the joint journey of researchers and therapists from three different countries in creating the Individualised Patient-Progress System (IPPS). Results: We first describe how the idea of the IPPS emerged; then we show how IPPS is being piloted and integrated into clinical practice. Next, we present the views of therapists and researchers who have been part of this project. Conclusions: We discuss some lessons learned from this 14-year collaborative research programme.

Keywords:

• practice research networks
• psychotherapy outcome
• personalised assessment
• outcome monitoring
• individualised measures
• IPPS

Funding

This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, grant number PTDC/PSI-PCL/098952/2008).

Additional information

Funding

Funding: This work was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, grant number PTDC/PSI-PCL/098952/2008).

Notes on contributors

Célia M. D. Sales

Biographies

Célia M.D. Sales, Psychologist, Master in Systemic Family Therapy and PhD in Mental Health (2006, Department of Psychiatry, University of Seville), is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology of the University of Évora and a Researcher at the Centre for Research and Social Intervention at ISCTE-IUL. Her research interests cover the areas of personalised assessment in mental health and primary care (i.e. development of personalised measurement systems that can be implemented as part of the routine of care services); as well as systemic intervention in psychiatric, educational and social exclusion contexts. Célia is the Vice-President of the Portuguese Association of Family and Community Therapy and has designed several programmes of advanced training in family therapy (e.g. Master in Family and Community Therapy, Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique). She has worked as an expert (e.g. Maastricht University, Portuguese Government) and as a trainer (e.g. University of Seville, Diputación de Alicante) in international projects and training programmes.

Paula C. G. Alves

Paula Alves, MSc, is a Clinical Psychologist undertaking a PhD in psychology at the Centre for Research and Social Intervention at ISCTE-IUL, where she is based. Paula completed a BSc in clinical psychology at the University of Lisbon and later an MSc in Clinical and Public Health Aspects of Addiction at King's College London. Since 2010, Paula has been collaborating in various research projects in the field of personalised health and outcome monitoring in psychological treatments. Paula's work has already been published in various international peer-review journals and presented at numerous scientific meetings around Europe. Paula's current research interests include the personalisation of psychological treatments for addiction, which is the topic she is exploring in her PhD, in collaboration with King's College London.

Chris Evans

Chris Evans is a Consultant Medical Psychotherapist, i.e. a psychiatrist who specialised in psychotherapy (back in 1987). As well as the Royal College training he has subsequent trainings with the Institute of Group Analysis and a Masters in Advanced Family/Systemic Therapy from the Tavistock Clinic and University of East London. He has written over 100 peer-reviewed papers, believes all forms of psychological therapies have utility and that none yet really succeed as they should in ‘adding evidence to experience’. He is a co-author of the CORE instruments and co-founder, of the CORE system and CORE System Trust. He is passionate about the potential and utility of PRNs.

Robert Elliott

Robert Elliott, PhD, is Professor of Counselling in the Counselling Unit at the University of Strathclyde, where he directs its research clinic and teaches counselling research and emotion-focused therapy. A Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Toledo (Ohio), he is co-author of Facilitating emotional change (1993), Learning process-experiential psychotherapy (2004), and Research methods in clinical psychology (2002), as well as 140 journal articles and book chapters. He previously co-edited Psychotherapy Research, and Person-Centered Counseling and Psychotherapies, and is a Fellow in the Divisions of Humanistic Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He has received the Distinguished Research Career Award of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and the Carl Rogers Award from the Division of Humanistic Psychology of the American Psychological Association. He regularly teaches EFT in Scotland, the Netherlands, and Belgium and is currently doing research on EFT for social anxiety.