The clinical utility of the Personal Questionnaire (PQ): a mixed methods study

Abstract

The demand to implement routine outcome assessment in mental health care services calls for measures with clinical utility, i.e. feasible to therapists, acceptable to clients and generalizable to settings. An exploratory sequential research design was used to study the clinical utility of an individualized outcome measure, the Personal Questionnaire (PQ). In a qualitative first phase, a focus group of therapists was conducted to guide the development of a survey. In a quantitative second phase, the survey was administered to an international sample of 25 therapists that integrate PQ in routine clinical work. Results suggested that the PQ is perceived as a clinically significant and fairly practical measure, useful not only in assessing outcome but also for various clinical tasks. Furthermore, it is relatively well accepted by clients and generalizable to different clients, clinical approaches and settings. However, therapists gave specific suggestions for increasing the PQ’s clinical utility. Exploring therapists’ perspectives and practices will improve the appropriateness of measures for real-world clinical settings.

Keywords:

• Clinical utility
• Personal Questionnaire
• therapist experiences
• idiographic measures
• practice-based research
• outcome measures
• mixed methods