Pretreatment and Process Measures in Crisis Intervention as Predictors of Outcome

This study examines the relation between crisis intervention, lat outcome (1 and 2 years), and the following predictors: patient's history; patient's initial severity of symptoms; patient's initial motivation for treatment; and quality of crisis intervention. A total of 31 adults who entered a crisis intervention program during a 2-month period in 1985 were studied at entrance and after 1 and 2 years. Among the various predictors of change, those most closely correlated with outcome were patient's personal resources as assessed by the quality of relationships, self-esteem, and motivation for treatment. Patient's initial symptomatology, on the other hand, did not seem to have any predictable value. As far as the therapeutic process is concerned, the triggering of a crisis interaction appears to be more important than technique compliance (i.e., to follow each step of the crisis intervention model) in promoting change.