The Outcome Questionnaire 45.2. Italian validation of an instrument for the assessment of phychological treatments

Abstract

The Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2; Lambert et al., 2004) was designed to measure important areas of functioning (symptoms, interpersonal problems and social role functioning) that are of central interest in mental health. The cross-cultural validity of the OQ-45.2 in the Italian population has been examined by comparing the psychometric properties and equivalence in factor structure and normative scores of the Italian OQ with the original American version. Data were collected at university (N = 461), in community (N = 61) and in three mental health care organisations (N = 301). Results showed that the psychometric properties of the Italian OQ were adequate and similar to the original instrument. The CFA supported the multidimentional construct system of the instrument. Furthermore, normative scores were different for the Italian and American samples and this resulted in different cutoff scores for estimating clinically significant change in the Italian population. The Italian version of the OQ-45.2 appears promising as a measure of general psychological distress, and it could be used to measure the psychotherapy outcome in routine clinical practice.