Client, Therapist, and Treatment Characteristics in Evidence-Based Therapies for Children and Adolescents

Abstract

In this chapter, the authors review client, therapist, and treatment variables to try to answer questions and potentially raise new ones about the variability in outcomes of evidence-based treatments for youth and their families. They note the progress made in understanding the interaction of client and therapist characteristics and how these may lead to youth treatment processes. These include client characteristics of developmental characteristics, case difficulty, and family characteristics. Therapist characteristics are outlined along with characteristics of treatment that may affect treatment applications and outcomes. The authors emphasize that more research work is needed to elucidate these important variables affecting therapeutic outcomes. They conclude with a summary of what is known and a discussion of possible future research.