Barriers and facilitators to the use of progress-monitoring measures in psychotherapy

Progress-monitoring (PM) measures, which help ensure evidence-based practice, allow the tracking of client progress in psychotherapy treatment and even predict which clients will have negative outcomes. However, the majority of psychologists in Canada still do not use these measures in clinical practice. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the barriers and facilitators to the use of PM measures in psychotherapy among psychologists in Canada. Participants included 533 licensed psychologists from across Canada who responded to an online survey regarding the barriers and facilitators involved in using PM measures in clinical practice. Participants self-identified as either users, nonusers, or previous users of PM measures. The results of the present study indicate that the top-4 barriers to using PM measures were limited knowledge, limitations in training, burden on clients, and concerns regarding additional work and time. These barriers were similar across users, nonusers, and previous users. The results suggest that offering training in different formats, over extended periods of time, and from colleague to colleague may be the most effective approach to overcoming these barriers. Other strategies that may help address the identified barriers and implications for practicing clinicians and the field of psychology are discussed.