ABSTRACT

Progress research looks at how clients change over the course of psychotherapy by assessing how they are doing on a session-by-session basis and whether their gains over time match those that might be expected. In contrast to most psychotherapy research, this form of research focuses on how individual clients change in relation to their own earlier levels of functioning rather than how well kinds of treatment work for groups of clients. This chapter focuses on the research of Kenneth Howard, who was the principal architect of progress research. Howard's efforts have led to other substantial projects centered on the ongoing assessment of client progress in psychotherapy. In closing, the methods developed by Ken Howard and the evidence marshaled are powerful and convincing. This is good science brought to evaluate clinical practice. In the domain of managed care, measures such as Howard's appear to be enormously useful as an antidote for simplistic decision making.