This pilot study describes the provision of information tailored to meet the needs of families caring for a chronic schizophrenic member. An existing education package (Smith and Birchwood, 1987) was adapted to give greater emphasis to negative symptoms, myths/stereotypes and “quality of life” issues. A range of outcome measures revealed that the “original” education package promoted a greater reduction in the level of family burden whereas the “modified” package tended to promote greater belief in the efficacy of medication. Both educational programmes were associated with significant gains in knowledge per se (but not in “functional knowledge”) and significant positive changes in families' beliefs about their own role in the treatment process. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Young males with alcohol-related offending behaviours were recruited into a research study. In a Young Offenders' Institution, pre-release offenders were allocated to a behavioural Alcohol Education Course (AEC) or a non-intervention control group. At follow-up, dependent variable differences were observed between the two groups. Results are discussed in the context of policy and practice.

Momentary time sampling (MTS) is described as an unbiased method of estimating time spent engaging in target behaviour. Conclusions that MTS with long sampling intervals or for short sessions results in large error are based on studies which use too few observations (a too-small sample size) to expect small sampling error. Partial interval (PI) sampling is a biased method, and the degree of bias changes as the characteristics of the behaviour change, a particular problem for intervention studies.

Ten elderly patients with anxiety problems were treated individually using cognitive-behavioural interventions. These involved helping the patients reinterpret their anxiety symptoms in a non-threatening way. Questionnaire and self-report data suggested that cognitive-behavioural therapy may be an effective intervention for elderly patients with anxiety problems.

This case study illustrates the reduction of severe stuttering by an individually tailored treatment programme. Interventions are derived from a tripartite analysis (Lang, 1971) and include EMG biofeedback, regulated breathing, exposure in vivo to stressful communication situations and cognitive techniques to reduce relapse risk. The role of dysfunctional response system interactions in stuttering is emphasized. Treatment resulted in a marked reduction of stuttering and associated facial contortions during videotaped conversations with strangers and oral reading. Improvement was maintained at one-year follow-up.

The present study investigates the prediction of treatment outcome in the early stages of therapy by examining the quality of the therapeutic relationship. Furthering our understanding of the critical relationship variables may be useful for intervening in unsuccessful treatment outcomes. Two self-report instruments are used to assess the client-therapist interaction: the EPIN and the TCRS. Results show the client's assessment of the quality of the therapeutic relationship, as assessed with the EPIN, is related to treatment outcome. None of the subscales of the TCRS showed significant correlations. We conclude that in the early stage of treatment, the establishment of an accepting, empathic and supportive relationship with the client (as perceived by the client), is important for the progress of directive behaviour therapy.

Six patients meeting DSM-III criteria for dysthymic disorder completed fifteen weekly sessions of one hour of individual cognitive therapy. Pre-, post- and six months follow-up assessments were carried out by an independent assessor. A significant improvement in depression was observed after treatment and maintained at six months follow-up. Clinically, improvements were meaningful and wide ranging and four of the patients no longer met DSM-III criteria for dysthymic disorders. Cognitive treatment acted specifically as it reduced significantly the frequency of negative automatic thoughts during treatment and follow-up.

Preliminary work in assessing the competency of trainees attending a cognitive behaviour therapy course is presented. Inter-rater reliability of the Cognitive Therapy Scale to assess competency in therapy is considered satisfactory at the overall competency level. Item reliabilities are promising. Although the power of this pilot design is weak, the competency scale showed a trend towards improvement over the course of training.

Seven experienced clinicians were asked to judge how many sessions patients in a clinical psychology out-patient clinic would take to complete treatment, using patient referral letters as their only data. Results showed the clinicians were very poor at making this judgement and generally did no better than chance. Their clinical predictions were compared with statistical data using a regression analysis of initial questionnaire measures. The regression equation did a little better on some judgements, but still failed to predict long-term treatment.