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Objective: We review all available controlled outcome studies of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) to evaluate evidence of its effectiveness. Method: Forty-three studies were located and key data abstracted on problem, setting, SFBT intervention, design characteristics, and outcomes. Results: Thirty-two (74%) of the studies reported significant positive benefit from SFBT; 10 (23%) reported positive trends. The strongest evidence of effectiveness came in the treatment of depression in adults where four separate studies found SFBT to be comparable to well-established alternative treatments. Three studies examined length of treatment and all found SFBT used fewer sessions than alternative therapies. Conclusion: The studies reviewed provide strong evidence that SFBT is an effective treatment for a wide variety of behavioral and psychological outcomes and, in addition, it may be briefer and therefore less costly than alternative approaches. (Contains 6 tables and 1 figure.) [A list of SFBT Outcome Studies is included.]

The study discussed in this article describes change processes in abusers and examines the dynamics of unsuccessful processes. In doing so, this study provides a useful evaluation of group therapy as it is offered to batterers. Implications for microethnographic methods are discussed for social work students learning to evaluate their practice. (Contains 23 references.) (BF)

Describes the development of a college social-work curriculum designed to encourage students to value a diverse world. A detailed description of this ability was developed, including six developmental levels and possible assessment activities. Appropriate curriculum revisions were made and implemented in pilot sections of a new course. The program's impact on curriculum and teaching in general is examined. (Author/MSE)

The works and achievements of Insoo Kim Berg, a co-developer of solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), are discussed.

An integrated theoretical model of adult learning and distance education is used to describe and analyze our experience using a listserv to extend and expand the learning begun in a classroom-based doctoral seminar. Our postings on the listserv provide the data for our study, and we analyze their content to identify themes in how we used the listserv. The content analysis demonstrates that the listserv enhanced the course-related learning of all participants, helped the student participants feel connected with the university and their student role while engaged in their careers back home, and provided social support for professional and personal development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the practice evaluation model in the context of quality assurance reviews in managed care. Managed care demands the three essential elements of practice evaluation; namely, specified client problems and treatment goals, suitable measurements, and analysis of change. The article delineates and demonstrates two case-recording procedures that facilitate quality assurance reviews cf clinical social work practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the authors' "accidental" discovery that change in the problem situation frequently occurs prior to the first session, and that clients can often recall and describe such changes, if prompted. The authors describe one technique for eliciting reports of pretreatment change from clients, and discuss the results of an informal survey of 30 families who responded to this intervention. Rather than discounting pretreatment change as a "flight into health," it can be framed in Batesonian terms as a "difference that makes a difference." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Existing methods for assessing the significance of client change in single-subject research designs are not useful for baseline data containing trend, or are too complicated to be practical. This paper provides a step-by-step procedure for applying the celeration line test, a quasi-statistical technique for evaluating client change. The test utilizes visual analysis of graphed client data with the aid of an easily fitted trend line and table of relative frequencies. The procedure is practical for clinical use; it is easily learned and applied, and is applicable with moderate baselines and baselines containing trend. Considerations in the use of the celeration line technique are discussed, along with general issues that arise when assessing change in clinical time-series data. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

No abstract available for this article. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Expert systems are computer programs which embody the expertise of a human expert in order to consult on a specific problem. This article describes our experience in developing BRIEFER, a prototype expert system designed to advice brief family therapists on what interventions to give clients at the conclusion of the first session. Excerpts form a sample consultation with BRIEFER are provided, and we discuss the impact BRIEFER has had on our clinical practice. Our experience suggests that it is feasible and practical to develop expert systems for a variety of clinical uses. We conclude by discussing some of the ways we think expert systems will be used in clinical practice, and we consider some issues related to their use by clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents the authors' comments on an article "First Axioms of Treatment," by Walter W. Hudson's on social work practice. It is a well-accepted social work principle that we do not treat problems, but help persons with problems assume responsibility for solving their problems, using the social worker and other social resources. We have also extolled the client's right to self-determination. Hudson's article asserts the moral imperative of evaluative research on practice outcomes. He begins by noting that social workers have thus far failed to demonstrate that professional treatment is effective. He then states that a therapist's agreement to provide professional services for a payment carries with it an obligation to demonstrate that treatment is effective or to refer the client to some other resource. Anything short of adherence to this commitment represents a flaw in one's professional ethics. One clear implication is that social work, as a professional community, is ethically flawed. A number of problems arise from this familiar reprimanding approach to the development of the profession.