My Scandinavian Grandmother Christina was fond of saying, “The room for improvement…is the biggest one in our house.”

Turns out, when it comes to engaging people in physical and mental health services, Grandma was right.  We healthcare professionals can do better—and recent research points the way.

Stanford psychologists Sims and Tsai found that recipients of care both choose, and are more likely to follow the recommendations of, healthcare providers who match how they ideally want to feel.   People who valued feeling excitement, for example, were more likely to choose a professional who promoted excitement and vice versa.

Bottom line?  Making the helping relationship FIT how people want to feel—their goals, values, and preferences—improves engagement and effectiveness.

Tailoring services in the manner suggested by Sims and Tsai is precisely what Feedback-Informed Treatment (FIT) is all about.  Two simple scales—the Outcome and Session Ratings Scales—facilitate this process, enabling helping professionals to assess and adjust treatment in real time to improve the FIT.

Overwhelmed by paperwork?  No worries.  As I have written about in previous blogposts (1, 2), several web-based and electronic solutions exist that make integration a snap.  The pioneer–the very first to come online–is MyOutcomes.

Since coming on the scene, the owners have doggedly sought feedback from users, working steadily to provide a system that maximizes practitioners’ effectiveness.  The latest version is packed full of goodies, including a mobile app and the ability to have clients provide feedback remotely (e.g., home, between visits, etc.).  Watch the video below to get a more comprehensive overview of its many features.

I’m also proud to say that the parent company of MyOutcomes has partnered with the International Center for Clinical Excellence to create the first online training on Feedback-Informed Treatment.   Importantly, the FIT E-learning program is not another webinar.  It is a true online classroom, complete with video instruction and an intuitive software interface that tailors learning and mastery to the individual user.

Together, the ORS and SRS, FIT E-learning, and MyOutcomes make “the room for improvement” a much less daunting, even enjoyable, undertaking.

I can almost see my Granma Stina smiling!

Until next time,

Scott

Scott D. Miller, Ph.D.
International Center for Clinical Excellence

P.S.:  We still have a few spots open for our FIT Implementation and FIT Ethics courses coming up in August. Don’t wait.  The number of participants is limited and both courses fill about two months in advance!