ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: High quality randomized controlled trials (RCT) of psychotherapeutic interventions should ensure that the therapy being tested is what is actually delivered. However, contamination of one therapy into the other, a critical component of treatment adherence, is seldom measured in psychotherapy trials of psychosis. AIMS: The aim of the study was to determine whether a purpose-designed measure, the ACE Treatment Integrity Measure (ATIM) could detect therapy contaminations within a controlled trial of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) versus Befriending for first-episode psychosis and to compare the ATIM to a more traditional adherence measure, the Cognitive Therapy Scale (CTS). METHOD: Therapy sessions were audio-recorded and at least one therapy session from 53 of the 62 participants in the RCT was rated by an independent rater using the CTS and ATIM. RESULTS: Ninety-nine therapy sessions were rated. All Befriending sessions and all but three CBT sessions were correctly identified. The ATIM showed that 29 of the 99 (29%) sessions were contaminated by techniques from the other therapy. Within the CBT sessions, 19 of the 51 sessions (37%) were contaminated by one or more Befriending techniques. Of the Befriending sessions, 10 of 48 (21%) were contaminated by ACE techniques. The mean CTS score was higher in the CBT than the Befriending group. CONCLUSIONS: The ATIM was able to detect contaminations and revealed more meaningful, fine-grained analysis of what therapy techniques were being delivered and what contaminations occurred. The study highlights the benefit of employing purpose-designed measures that include contamination when assessing treatment adherence.
Subject(s)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy/methods , Cognitive Behavioral Therapy/standards , Guideline Adherence , Interpersonal Relations , Psychotic Disorders/therapy , Adolescent , Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Psychiatric Status Rating Scales , Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic/methods , Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic/standardsABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Meta-analysis results confirm that cognitive-behavioural therapy in psychosis (CBTp) is efficient for persistent symptoms. However, external validity remains unexplored. CBTp in early psychosis (in the first 5 years after diagnosis) seems especially relevant, given a possible impact on long-term course. However, the few studies that experimented with CBTp with this population had poor results. They all introduced therapy during an acute psychotic phase and most of them performed a limited number of sessions. Therefore, our introductory open study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of a 25-session Australian CBTp program, introduced during a stable phase in Quebec patients with early psychosis. METHOD: The Active Cognitive Psychotherapy for Early Psychosis program was offered to 20 patients aged 14 years or older, at a rate of 1 weekly session during 6 months. RESULTS: The acceptance rate was 75%, the mean session compliance rate was 84%, and participants were satisfied with the program. Pre- and post-CBTp analyses indicated statistically significant improvements of psychotic symptomatology, which were maintained at 6-month follow-up. Self-criticism improvement was also statistically significant, post-CBTp. CONCLUSION: CBTp seems to be appropriate in our clinical settings, including with adolescents. Moreover, the treatment dosage used seems to foster session compliance.
