| Short Progress Assessment (SPA)

The SPA is a client-rated questionnaire enabling week-by-week assessment of progress with mental health courses. The SPA acknowledges both ‘outcome’ and ‘process’.

Author

Bruno A. Cayoun DPsych, MiCBT Institute

Description

This client-rated questionnaire enables a week-by-week assessment of progress with therapy. It is used for both clinical and research purposes. The SPA acknowledges both ‘outcome’ and ‘process’. Outcome measures involve two main scales, Severity (symptomatology) and Manageability (self-efficacy). Interviewees are asked to evaluate their levels of symptom severity and manageability on five subscales using a 5-point Likert-type scale:

Behavioural
Cognitive
Interoceptive (body sensations)
Affective
Interpersonal

In addition to rapid assessment of outcome, the SPA also measures the process of therapy with two Perceived Outcome scales. One is the Perceived Improvement scale, which requires the Interviewee to summarise how much they perceive their improvement to be on the five subscales cited above. The other is the Satisfaction with Therapy scale, which provides rapid evaluation of client satisfaction on five measures:

Therapy Type
Therapy Length
Relationship with Therapist
Skills Learned
Cost (if applicable)

Administration requires between 2 and 3 minutes. Readability is appropriate for scorers from age 12 and adults.

Research

The instrument has been piloted and used in mainly clinical settings since 2003. Psychometric data have been collected by Bruno Cayoun and colleagues at the University of Tasmania and in the Tasmanian individuals (N=380). Preliminary norms are also available for 3 age-groups. The study shows good validity and reliability. Data are also continually being collected from various clinical services in Australia. Research collaboration is welcome and can be discussed with the principal author.