Gene Pekarik Memorial Award - Center for Research on Psychological Practice - Antioch University New England

Gene Pekarik Memorial Award for Research on Psychological Practice

Purpose

This award is intended to recognize excellence and innovation in student research within one or more of the following areas:

Program evaluation, including assessment of mental health needs or outcomes.
Studies of mental health policy as it affects service utilization or access.
Development of novel treatments or delivery strategies.
Development of methods or measures for mental health practice research.

Award Recipients

Gilbert S. Macvaugh III, PsyD, 2005

Outcomes of court intervention and diversionary programs for domestically violent offenders
Over the last several decades, arrests and prosecutions for domestic violence offenses have increased dramatically across the United States. As a result, courts are more frequently referring domestically violent offenders to treatment programs in order to address the problem. However, the question of which type of batterer treatment program, if any, is effective in reducing partner violence remains largely unanswered and the subject of much controversy. The purpose of this retrospective study was to measure outcomes of court intervention and diversionary programs for a large sample of male domestically violent offenders in Central Massachusetts. Using archival data extracted from official criminal records for a sample of 1,150 offenders, recidivism rates (measured by re-arrest) were calculated and compared at a five year follow-up period across eight different groups which were formed according to case dispositions and sentencing outcomes. Groups consisted of offenders who following an arrest either: (1) received arrest only with no additional sanctions (i.e., charges were dismissed); (2) received only probation; (3) were incarcerated; or were court ordered to complete; (4) a certified batterers’ intervention program; (5) an anger management program; (6) substance abuse evaluation or treatment; (7) other counseling, unspecified; or (8) were ordered to complete a treatment program but failed to do so and were later incarcerated. Recidivism was measured based on both the number of re-offenders within each group, as well as the number of re-offenses for each offender across groups. The results indicated that offenders who completed the anger management group were both less likely to re-offend and also had fewest number of re-offenses by the follow-up period compared to any other group; although, these differences were statistically significant only when compared to treatment non-completers and those who received only traditional criminal justice system sanctions.

Bridgette Sacco-Laurens 2004

Research attrition and sampling bias in psychotherapy outcome studies
Participant attrition in outcome studies threatens both conclusions about treatment effectiveness and generalizability. Many researchers do not report the number or type of participants who drop out of research. A review of the literature that did report this information revealed applied settings found demographic differences among attrition groups more often than controlled studies. The most common differences were related to social class variables, such as education, income, or socioeconomic status. This study examined the impact of research attrition on sample representativeness in outpatient private practice settings. Intake information on participants who returned all requested follow-up materials were compared to those with fewer or no response to research follow-up requests. Major findings indicated that demographic variables related to social class, for example: education, occupation, and socioeconomic status, were significantly lower for the research attrition group, A therapist rating of symptom severity at intake was the only diagnostic variable related to research attrition. Previous treatment experience and attendance patterns were also significantly different among the response groups. Research compliance was moderately predicted by previous treatment experience, years of client education, occupation status and socioeconomic status.

Greg Gard 2003

Building practice research networks: Overcoming barriers to practitioner participation
Practice research networks are emerging in response to a variety of convergent trends including increasing demands for practitioner accountability and the need for widespread psychotherapy effectiveness research in clinical settings. Active practitioner involvement, particularly through the use of a common assessment battery including standardized outcome measures, is critical to the success of these networks. Central to the argument here is that without significant technological innovation such as the automation of routine clinical tasks through the use of clinical information systems and the integration of outcomes monitoring within those systems, practice research networks will have a difficult time overcoming numerous historical barriers to practitioner participation in practice research. A survey was conducted to explore practitioner attitudes, expectancies, and experiences that either enhance or serve as a barrier to widespread practitioner participation in practice research networks. Additionally, the survey explored whether certain features exist that might create sufficient incentives for practitioner participation. Implications for the future not only of psychotherapy research, but also behavioral healthcare delivery systems are discussed.

Melinda Mueller 2002

Psychotherapy outcome in public and private settings: Comparing children and adults
Researchers have recently emphasized the importance of assessing psychotherapy’s impact for children and adolescents in actual practice settings (Weisz, 1992). The relatively small amount of such research available has precluded extensive outcome comparisons among client subgroups, but there has been some suggestion that standard treatment of children might be ineffective. Weisz and his colleagues, in a series of studies and reviews, have concluded that treated children fare no better than quasi (no treatment) control groups (Weisz & Weiss, 1993; Weisz, Weiss, Han, Granger, & Morton, 1995b). No published study has directly compared outcome for children and adults the same settings using the same or similar measures. The purpose of the this study was to do such comparisons at two research consortia, one of public clinics and another of private practices. Children and adults were compared directly using identical measures of satisfaction, client rating and therapist ratings and similar symptom-oriented measures (BSI and CBCL) pre- and post-treatment. Improvement was assessed using Jacobson and Truax's Reliable Change (1992). Information gathered from public and private settings was analyzed separately. Findings revealed that in the public setting children demonstrated poorer adjustment (on symptom measures) prior to and post treatment in comparison to adults. In addition, fewer children demonstrated improvement and parents were more dissatisfied with services. In the private setting, the results were inconsistent, with adults demonstrating poorer adjustment at intake only (on Client and Therapist Ratings). Implication and future directions were suggested.