Asking the right questions: Developing a patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) specific to group analytic psychotherapy

Abstract

The following article describes the background to and rationale for, developing a pilot-patient-reported outcome measure (PROM/questionnaire) designed to capture the therapeutic outcomes of group analysis as existing PROMS do not typically sufficiently capture this or use multiple measures. While group analysis has often demonstrated successful treatment of its members (Lorentzen, 2022), there is insufficient research to make it recognized by NICE guidance (Blackmore et al., 2012). This means it is not uniformly available across NHS Trusts, which is pertinent at an organizational level, because one of the six key trauma informed principles, is client ‘choice’ and those who benefit from group analysis are typically presenting with complex trauma/personality disorder (Lorentzen et al., 2015; SAMHSA, 2014).

This article highlights that, if there was an appropriate bespoke PROM for group analysis to be widely used across NHS psychotherapy departments, a growing body of empirical evidence could, long-term, facilitate a wider availability of group analysis. It will summarise the work of others, who have demonstrated why, in terms of human development, group analysis works and crucially, how it works. This article will also include an exploration as to why group analysis, along with other psychoanalytic psychotherapies, has been reticent in engaging with the provision of objective evidence that it is an effective treatment (Nitsun, 1991, 1996, 2018).