Brief Report: Assessing Clinical Significance Using the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems

Abstract

A great deal of attention has been focused on the symptomatic recovery of patients undergoing psychotherapy. Secondary to this is the degree to which psychotherapies affect patients’ interpersonal relations. The Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) is a self-report instrument developed to assess interpersonal difficulties. This study was conducted to establish cutoff scores for judging clinically significant improvement in patients' interpersonal functioning in studies of psychotherapy outcome. It was demonstrated that the IIP can distinguish among three groups, namely: (a) an asymptomatic community sample, (b) a student sample, and (c) a patient sample. Cutoff scores were established that allow researchers and clinicians to estimate the degree to which patients return to an average and ideal state of interpersonal functioning.

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