Examining response shifts in the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation- Outcome Measure (CORE-OM)

ABSTRACT

Response shifts can be defined as a change in the way that a respondent interprets and responds to symptom questionnaire items, over and above true changes in their symptoms. Response shifts are liable to occur as a result of psychotherapy and can undermine evaluations of the effectiveness of psychotherapy interventions by making pre- and post- intervention scores non-comparable. We evaluated whether such response shifts were in evidence in the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation- Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) and how this affected the comparisons of group-level scores before and after counselling intervention. We found that response shifts were minimal, making it likely that they can be easily addressed by testing group-level change within an appropriate latent variable model, rather than relying on observed scores.

KEYWORDS:

• Psychotherapy
• counselling in higher education
• response shifts
• CORE-OM

Notes on contributors

Aja Louise Murray is a research associate at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, UK. Her primary research interests are in developmental aspects of mental health.

Karen McKenzie is a chartered clinical psychologist and professor of psychology at Northumbria University in the UK. She has a particular interest in behaviours that challenge, including aggression to others and self-injury.

Kara Murray is a student of mental health nursing with an undergraduate degree in psychology. Her research interests include understanding the best ways to support individuals with mental health problems.

Marc Richelieu is the Assistant Director of the student counselling service at the University of Edinburgh, UK.