A System Analysis of a Failure to Test the Effectiveness of Waiting-List Group Therapy

This nonexperimental effectiveness study attempted to evaluate the utility of a brief waiting-list group. The setting was a university clinic providing treatment for an inner-city population. Health delivery and staff dynamics made it difficult to conduct clinical research in this treatment-oriented...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of group psychotherapy 2001-07, Vol.51 (3), p.417-423
Main Authors: Klein, Edward B., Stone, Walter N., Reynolds, David J., Hartman, Jennifer S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Community mental health services
Effectiveness
Group therapy
Health Maintenance Organizations
Individual psychotherapy
Medical sciences
Mental health
Mental Health Services - standards
Mental Health Services - supply & distribution
Organization of mental health. Health systems
Patients
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychotherapy, Group
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Waiting Lists
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Summary:This nonexperimental effectiveness study attempted to evaluate the utility of a brief waiting-list group. The setting was a university clinic providing treatment for an inner-city population. Health delivery and staff dynamics made it difficult to conduct clinical research in this treatment-oriented setting. The nonrandom design allowed for patient choice, with few clients attending more than two group sessions, thus decreasing its impact. Managed-care pressures decreased staff cooperation with our research objectives, resulting in very low return rates in testing and follow-up data. A social systems analysis, highlighting staff and institutional ambivalence, is used to understand the failure to adequately test the effectiveness of waiting-list group therapy. Recommendations are offered to investigators who contemplate conducting clinical research with limited resources.
ISSN:0020-7284
1943-2836
DOI:10.1521/ijgp.51.3.417.49892