Ciarrochi, J., Zettle, R. D., Brockman, R., Duguid, J., Parker, P., Sahdra, B., & Kashdan, T. B. (2015). A Functional Contextualistic Approach to Optimizing Psychological Measurement in Clinical Research and Practice. The Wiley handbook of contextual behavioral science, 320-346.
This chapter seeks to bridge the gap between basic theory and practice, between obscure psychometric concepts and the concrete needs of the therapist sitting in the room with a client. It examines some fundamental differences in how researchers and practitioners typically think about and use clinical assessment. The chapter focuses on the different ways that a particular measure can be useful to a practitioner, and on various research designs that can be used to assess the utility of clinical assessment. It addresses the classic psychometric theory and how the theory can aid the practical goals of measuring therapeutic change. The chapter examines longitudinal research as a means to understanding processes of change and as a complement to the treatment utility designs. It seeks to organize the bewildering number of clinical process and outcome measures into a simple behavioral framework. The chapter discusses promising new directions in contextual behavioral measurement.