Will the Intervention Benefit My Client? Helping Social Workers to Answer the Question Using Indicators of Clinically Meaningful Change
(2024) In Clinical Social Work Journal- Abstract
Social workers strive to provide the best support to each client, making it crucial to consider not just group-level effects of interventions but also individual outcomes. While empirical evidence often stems from group-based analyses, these offer limited insights into individual change, which is key for tailoring interventions. The aim of this study is to highlight the importance of individual-level analyses, an underexplored area in social work, using four indicators of “clinically meaningful change” (CMC). We compare these analyses with group-level analyses using a dataset of 146 Swedish families undergoing Functional Family Therapy (FFT), an intervention with strong empirical support. While group-level analyses confirmed FFT’s... (More)
Social workers strive to provide the best support to each client, making it crucial to consider not just group-level effects of interventions but also individual outcomes. While empirical evidence often stems from group-based analyses, these offer limited insights into individual change, which is key for tailoring interventions. The aim of this study is to highlight the importance of individual-level analyses, an underexplored area in social work, using four indicators of “clinically meaningful change” (CMC). We compare these analyses with group-level analyses using a dataset of 146 Swedish families undergoing Functional Family Therapy (FFT), an intervention with strong empirical support. While group-level analyses confirmed FFT’s general effectiveness in reducing adolescent psychosocial symptoms, individual-level analyses revealed a more nuanced picture, showing variations in outcomes—positive, negative, and neutral. The study thus demonstrates the value of CMC indicators for generating individual-level information that social workers can harness to find optimal solutions for their individual clients.
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- author
- Bergström, Martin LU and Baviskar, Siddhartha
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- epub
- subject
- keywords
- Clinical process, Functional family therapy, Individual-level analyses, Meaningful change, Treatment effects
- in
- Clinical Social Work Journal
- publisher
- Kluwer Academic/Human Sciences Press Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85209125465
- ISSN
- 0091-1674
- DOI
- 10.1007/s10615-024-00970-x
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2024.
- id
- 307a9c00-4bde-4b6d-b280-24c79a2bf2ab
- date added to LUP
- 2025-01-22 15:36:03
- date last changed
- 2025-04-04 14:27:02
@article{307a9c00-4bde-4b6d-b280-24c79a2bf2ab,
abstract = {{<p>Social workers strive to provide the best support to each client, making it crucial to consider not just group-level effects of interventions but also individual outcomes. While empirical evidence often stems from group-based analyses, these offer limited insights into individual change, which is key for tailoring interventions. The aim of this study is to highlight the importance of individual-level analyses, an underexplored area in social work, using four indicators of “clinically meaningful change” (CMC). We compare these analyses with group-level analyses using a dataset of 146 Swedish families undergoing Functional Family Therapy (FFT), an intervention with strong empirical support. While group-level analyses confirmed FFT’s general effectiveness in reducing adolescent psychosocial symptoms, individual-level analyses revealed a more nuanced picture, showing variations in outcomes—positive, negative, and neutral. The study thus demonstrates the value of CMC indicators for generating individual-level information that social workers can harness to find optimal solutions for their individual clients.</p>}},
author = {{Bergström, Martin and Baviskar, Siddhartha}},
issn = {{0091-1674}},
keywords = {{Clinical process; Functional family therapy; Individual-level analyses; Meaningful change; Treatment effects}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Kluwer Academic/Human Sciences Press Inc.}},
series = {{Clinical Social Work Journal}},
title = {{Will the Intervention Benefit My Client? Helping Social Workers to Answer the Question Using Indicators of Clinically Meaningful Change}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10615-024-00970-x}},
doi = {{10.1007/s10615-024-00970-x}},
year = {{2024}},
}