Routine Outcomes Measures (ROM): An Evaluation and Research Approach to the Therapeutic Process in Public Health Contexts

Josep Mercadal^1*, Francesc Maestre², Marta Golanó³, Ester Pla⁴ & Ariadna Pérez⁵

¹Institut Universitari de Salut Mental Vidal i Barraquer URL, ARSISAM, Spain
²Hospital Fundació Puigvert, ARSISAM, Spain
³Fundació Sindrome de Down, ARSISAM, Spain
⁴Associació Integra, ARSISAM, Spain
⁵Fundació Sant Pere Claver, ARSISAM, Spain

Dr. Josep Mercadal, Institut Universitari de Salut Mental Vidal i Barraquer URL, ARISAM, Spain.

Keywords: Psychotherapeutic Model; Healthcare Practice; ROM

Abstract

Interest in empirical evaluation is being assumed by most of the models of psychological intervention that are currently used, especially if they operate in a public domain. Everyone accepts that the best healthcare decisions must be based on the clinical judgment and the empirical evidence of the results that are obtained. On one hand, the clinical trial is based on training in a psychotherapeutic model, in the professional experience and in the ability to include all the variables and actors that make up the context in which the demand for help is formulated. On the other hand, empirical evidence is based on the efficacy studies of psychological treatments and their inclusion in professional guides.
In the field of empirical evidence there is a point of tension as to how these tests are generated. The fact that effective interventions in research studies do not prove to be so effective in everyday healthcare practice, that healthcare professionals consider that they do not fit the real conditions in which they develop their healthcare practice and, therefore, are little known and influenced in their psychological decisions and interventions, it has highlighted the limitations of the practice model based on empirical evidence. Faced with this limitation, the need to assess the results of psychological interventions, the interest in improving care practices and the demands of administrations for the optimization of resources, has been developing and consolidating the model of empirical evidence based on practice. Within this model is where the Routine Outcomes Measures (ROM) has been developed. In this way, the evaluation of the psychological treatments approaches the professionals, informs of the results of the assistive processes in course and can become a support to their work.

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