Adaptive modeling of progress in outpatient psychotherapy

All professional services require adaptive decision making, that is, modifications based on diagnostic configuration and an ongoing assessment of progress or accomplishment of goals. In the delivery of clinical services, outcome monitoring (i.e., repeated assessments of a patient's response to treatment and recurrent revisions of outcome expectations based on the observed treatment response) can be used to support this sort of adaptive decision making. The authors describe a model for determining the expected treatment response of a patient based on presenting characteristics and information collected over the course of treatment. They also discuss how this information could be used to support clinical decisions regarding treatment selection and modification.