Treatment adherence process research in family therapy: A rationale and some practical guidelines

Treatment adherence research has recently established a permanent niche in psychotherapy outcome research as a means for testing whether interventions have been implemented as intended. Advanced-level adherence methods allow investigators to move beyond treatment integrity questions regarding model fidelity and toward treatment process questions regarding therapeutic technique and intervention dosage. Though still in the developmental stage, treatment adherence process procedures appear to be congruent with the methods, goals, and theoretical framework that characterize contemporary psychotherapy process research. Because adherence process research is virtually absent from the family therapy research literature, practical guidelines are presented for conducting observational- based adherence research on family therapy models, using the example of Multidimensional Family Therapy.