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Selected articles and videos of Dr. Barry Duncan that chronicle his scholarly journey, including the common factors, pharmaceutical critique, and PCOMS. 

Jacqueline A. Sparks, Ph.D.

Dedication

This page is dedicated to the kind, gentle, magnificent Dr. Jacqueline A. Sparks whose collaborations made every endeavor better. Read more about her here.

Below my selected articles and chapters, many of which were collaborations with Jackie, find more widely cited articles she authored.

Articles and Chapters

1.   Anker, M., Duncan, B., & Sparks, J. (2009). Using client feedback to improve couple therapy outcomes: A randomized clinical trial in a naturalistic setting. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 77, 693-705.

2. Anker, M., Owen, J., Duncan, B., & Sparks, J. (2010). The alliance in couple therapy: Partner influence, early change, and alliance patterns in a naturalistic sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 78, 635-645.

3. Anker, M., Sparks, J., Duncan, B., & Stapnes, A. (2011). Footprints of couple therapy: Client reflections at follow up using a mixed method design in routine care. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 22, 22-45.

4. Bringhurst, D.L., Watson, C.W., Miller, S.D., & Duncan, B.L. (2006). The reliability and validity of the Outcome Rating Scale: A replication study of a brief clinical measure Journal of Brief Therapy, 5, 23-30.

5. Cooper, M., Duncan, B., Golden, S., & Toth, K. (2019). Systematic client feedback in therapy for children with psychological difficulties: Pilot cluster randomized controlled trial. Counselling Psychology Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1080/09515070.2019.1647142

6. DeSantis, B., Jackson, M., Duncan, B., & Reese, R. (2016). Casting a wider net in behavioral health screening in primary care: A preliminary study of the Outcome Rating Scale. Primary Health Care Research & Development, 1-6.

7. Duncan, B. (2002a). The founder of common factors: A conversation with Saul Rosenzweig. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 12, 10-31. Original Rosenzweig article: Rosenzweig, S. (1936). Some implicit common factors in diverse methods of psychotherapy. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 6, 412–415. 

8. Duncan, B. (2002b). The legacy of Saul Rosenzweig: The profundity of the dodo bird. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 12, 32-57. Original Rosenzweig article: Rosenzweig, S. (1936). Some implicit common factors in diverse methods of psychotherapy. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 6, 412–415. 

9. Duncan, B. (2002c). Does drug company marketing now include product placement in the movies? Ethical Human Sciences and Services, 4, 24-26.

10. Duncan, B. (2010). On becoming a better therapist. Psychotherapy in Australia, 16, 42-51.

11. Duncan, B. (2011a). What therapists want: It’s certainly not money or fame. Psychotherapy Networker, May/June, 40-43, 47, 62.

12. Duncan, B. (2011b). Opening the path: From what is to what can be. Psychotherapy Networker, May/June, 46-47.     

13. Duncan, B. (2012). The Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS): The Heart and Soul of Change Project. Canadian Psychology, May, 1-11.

14. Duncan, B. (2013a). The heart and soul of change: Getting better at what we do.  The Iowa Psychologist, Summer,4-5.

15. Duncan, B. (2013b). What makes a master therapist? Psychotherapy in Australia, 19, 58-66.

16. Duncan, B. (2014). The person of the therapist: One therapist’s journey to relationship. In K. J. Schneider, J. F. Pierson, & J. F.T. Bugental (Eds.). The Handbook of Humanistic Psychology: Leading Edges in Theory, Practice, and Research (2nd ed.) (pp. 457-472). New York: Sage Publications.

17. Duncan, B. (2016). Commentary: Client v. therapist-directed supervision: A question of emphasis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 37, 299–300.

18. Duncan, B. (2016). Solution Focused Therapy, the common factors, and the Partners for Change Outcome Management System: A ménage a trois made in heaven. In L. Isebaert, Solution Focused Cognitive Therapy: A practical handbook

19. Duncan B., & Antonuccio, D. (2011). A patient bill of rights for psychotropic prescription: A call for a higher standard of care. International Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2, 353-359.

20. Duncan, B., & Miller, S. (2000). The client’s theory of change. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 10, 169-188.

21. Duncan, B., & Miller, S., & Sparks, J. (2007). Common factors and the uncommon heroism of youth. Psychotherapy in Australia, 13, 34-51. 

22. Duncan, B., Miller, S., & Sparks, J. (2000). Exposing the mythmakers. The Family Therapy Networker, March/April, 24-33, 52-53.

23. Duncan, B., Miller, S., & Sparks, J. (2000). The myth of the magic pill. Psychotherapy in Australia, 7 (2).

24. Duncan, B., Miller, S., Sparks, J, Claud, D., Reynolds. L., Brown, J., & Johnson, L. (2003). The Session Rating Scale: Preliminary psychometric properties of a “working” alliance measure. Journal of Brief Therapy, 3, 3-12.

25. Duncan, B., & Moynihan, D. (1994). Applying outcome research: Intentional utilization of the client’s frame of reference. Psychotherapy, 31, 294-301.

26. Duncan, B.L., & Reese, R. J. (2012). Empirically supported treatments, evidence based treatments, and evidence based practice. In G. Stricker and T. Widiger (Vol. Eds.) and I. Weiner (Ed.), Handbook of Psychology, 2nd Ed., Vol. 8: Clinical Psychology (pp. 977-1023). Hoboken. NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

27. Duncan, B.L., & Reese, R.J. (2013). Clinical and scientific considerations in progress monitoring: When is a measure too long? Canadian Psychology, 54, 135-137.

28. Duncan, B.L., & Reese, R.J. (2015). The Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS): Revisiting the client’s frame of reference.  Psychotherapy, 52, 391–401.

29. Duncan, B.L., & Reese, R.J. (2015). Using PCOMS technology to improve outcomes and accelerate counselor development. In T. Rousmaniere and E. Renfro-Michel (Eds.), Using Technology to Enhance Counselor Supervision: A Practical Handbook (pp. 135-156). Washington, DC: American Counseling Association.

30. Duncan, B.L., & Reese, R.J. (2024). The evolution of feedback: Toward a Multicultural Orientation. Psychotherapy, 61(2), 101-109.

31. Duncan, B., Reese, R., Lengerich, A., DeSantis, B., Comeau, C., & Johnson-Esparza, Y. (2021). Measurement based care in integrated care: A randomized clinical trial. Families, Systems, & Health.

32.Duncan, B., & Sparks, J. (2012). The exaggerated benefits from antidepressants and Sparks, J., & Duncan, B. (2012). Fluoxetine and pediatric suicidality risk re-analyzed. Archives of General Psychiatry, July 23, 1-5.

33.Duncan, B., & Sparks, J. (2016). Systematic feedback via the Partners for Change Outcome Management System. In M. Cooper & W. Dryden (Eds.), Handbook of pluralistic counselling and psychotherapy (pp. 55-67). London: Sage.

34. Duncan, B., & Sparks, J. (2017). The Partners for Change Outcome Management System. In J. L. Lebow, A. L. Chambers, & D. C. Breunlin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy (pp. 1-10). New York: Springer.

35. Duncan, B., & Sparks, J. (2019). When meta-analysis misleads: A critical case study of a meta-analysis of client feedback. Psychological Services. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ser0000398

36. Duncan, B. L., & Sparks, J. A. (2022). When meta-analysis continues to mislead: A reply to Østergård and Hougaard (2020). Psychological Services.Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/ser0000666

37. Duncan, B., Sparks, J., Miller, S., Bohanske, R., & Claud, D. (2006). Giving youth a voice: A preliminary study of the reliability and validity of a brief outcome measure for children, adolescents, and caretakers. Journal of Brief Therapy, 5, 71-87.

38. Duncan, B., Sparks, J., Murphy, J., & Miller, S. (2007). Just say “no” to drugs as a first line treatment for child problems. Psychotherapy in Australia, 13, 32-40.

39. Duncan, B., Sparks, J., & Timimi, S. (2017). Beyond Critique: The Partners for Change Outcome Management System as an Alternative Paradigm to Psychiatric Diagnosis. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 1-23. 

40. Graybeal, C., DeSantis, B., Duncan, B., Reese, R., Brandt, K., & Bohanske, R. (2018).  Health related quality of life and the physician-patient alliance: A preliminary investigation of ultra-brief, real time measures for primary care. Quality of Life Research, 27, 3275-3279.

41. Halford, T. C., Owen, J., Duncan, B. L., Anker, M. G., & Sparks, J. A. (2014). Pre-therapy relationship adjustment, gender, and the alliance in couple therapy. Journal of Family Therapy, March, 1467-1487.

42.  Kodet, J., Reese, R., Duncan, B., & Bohanske, R. (2019). Psychotherapy for depressed youth in poverty: Benchmarking outcomes in a public behavioral health settings. Psychotherapy, 56, 254-259.

43. Miller, S. D., Duncan, B. L., Brown, J., Sparks, J., & Claud, D. (2003). The outcome rating scale: A preliminary study of the reliability, validity, and feasibility of a brief visual analog measure. Journal of Brief Therapy, 2,91–100.

44. Owen, J., Duncan, B., Anker, M., & Sparks, J. (2012). Initial relationship goal and couple therapy outcomes at post and six month follow up. Journal of Family Psychology, February 13, 1-8.

45.  Owen, J., Duncan, B., Reese, J., Anker, M., & Sparks, J. (2014). Accounting for therapist variability in couple therapy outcomes: What really matters? Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 40, 488-502.

46. Quirk, K., Owen, J., Miller, S., & Duncan, B. (2012). Group Session Rating Scale: Preliminary psychometrics in substance abuse group interventions. Counselling and Psychotherapy Research, 13, 194-200. 

47. Reese, R.J., Duncan, B.L. & Clements-Hickman, A (2024). Does practice-generated data improve psychotherapy effectiveness? In F. Leong, M. Constantino, & C. Eubanks (Eds.), APA Handbook of Psychotherapy (pp. 193-211). Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.    

48.Reese, R.J., Duncan, B., Bohanske, R., Owen, J., & Minami, T. (2014). Benchmarking outcomes in a public behavioral health setting: Feedback as a quality improvement strategy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0036915, 1-12.

49. Reese, R.J., Duncan, B., Kodet, J., Brown, H., Meiller, C., Farook, M., Lengerich, A., Vasilj, I., Hong, S., & Bohanske, R. (2017). Patient feedback as a quality improvement strategy in an acute care, inpatient unit: An investigation of outcome and readmission rates. Psychological Services. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ser0000163

50. Schuman, D., Slone, N., Reese, R.J., & Duncan, B. (2014). Using client feedback to improve outcomes in group psychotherapy with soldiers referred for substance abuse treatment. Psychotherapy Research, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2014.900875, 1-12.

51. She, Z., Duncan, B., Reese, R., Sun, Q., Shi, Y., Jiang, G., Wu, C., & Clements, A. (2018).  Client feedback in China: A randomized clinical trial in a college counseling center. Journal of Counseling Psychology.

52. She, Z., Xu, H., Cormier, G., Drapeau, N., & Duncan, B. (2023). Culture matters: Chinese mental health professionals’ fear of losing face in routine outcome monitoring, Psychotherapy Research, DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2240949

53. Sparks, J., & Duncan, B. (2004). The ethics and science of medicating children. Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, 6, 25-39.

54.  Sparks, J. & Duncan, B. (2008a). Do not harm: A critical risk/benefit analysis of  child psychotropic medication. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 19, 1-19.

55. Sparks, J. & Duncan, B. (2008b). Challenging automatic prescription: Listening to data, talking with families, honoring client preferences Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 19, 36-49.

56. Sparks, J., & Duncan, B. (2010). Common factors in couple and family therapy: Must all have prizes? In B. Duncan, S. Miller, B. Wampold, & M. Hubble (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: Delivering what works in therapy (pp. 357-392). Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.

57. Sparks, J., & Duncan, B. (2012). Pediatric antipsychotics: A call for ethical care. In S. Olfman, & B. D. Robbins, (Eds.), Drugging our children (pp. 81-98). Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

58.Sparks, J., & Duncan, B. (2013). Outside the black box: Reassessing youth antidepressant prescription. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 22, August, 240-246

59. Sparks, J. & Duncan, B. (2016). Client strengths and resources: Helping clients draw on what they already do best. In M. Cooper & W. Dryden (Eds.), Handbook of pluralistic counselling and psychotherapy (pp. 68-79). London: Sage.

60. Sparks, J., & Duncan, B. (2018). The Partners for Change Outcome Management System: A both/and system for collaborative practice. Family Process. Doi: 10.1111/famp.12345, 1-17. 

61. Sparks, J., & Duncan, B. (2019). Progress research in couple and family therapy. In J. L. Lebow, A. L. Chambers, & D. C. Breunlin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. New York: Springer. 

62. Sparks, J., Duncan, B., Cohen, D., & Antonuccio, D. (2010). Psychiatric drugs and common factors: An evaluation of risks and benefits for clinical practice. In B. Duncan, S. Miller, B. Wampold, & M. Hubble (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: Delivering what works in therapy (199-236). Washington D.C.: American Psychological Association.

63. Sparks, J. Duncan, B. & Miller, S. (2006). Integrating psychotherapy and pharmacology: Myths and the missing link. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 17, 83-108.

More from Dr. Sparks

Sparks, J. The Norway couple project: Lessons Learned. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 41(4), 481-494.

Sparks, J. A., et al. (2011). Teaching accountability: Using client feedback to train effective family therapists. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 37(4), 452-467.

Read more about Jackie here.

Videos

How Do You Get Better?

How to Do PCOMS

Implementation and Supervision

BON, PCOMS, and the Rationales

The Common Factors

On Becoming a Better Therapist

Miscellaneous