Why Better Outcomes Now?
Honoring the demands of front-line work and documenting proof of value.
What is Measurement Based Care (MBC)?
MBC involves a real-time collaborative comparison of client views of outcome with an expected treatment response that serves as a yardstick for gauging client progress and signaling when change is not occurring as predicted. With this alert, counselors, clients, and organizations have an opportunity to shift focus, revisit goals, or alter interventions before deterioration or dropout.
What is the Partners for Change Outcome Management System (PCOMS)?
PCOMS is one of only two MBC systems that is evidence based, i.e., have randomized clinical trial (RCT) support. PCOMS employs two four-item scales, the Outcome Rating Scale (ORS) to track client benefit and the Session Rating Scale (SRS) to monitor the therapeutic alliance. Unlike other methods of MBC, PCOMS truly involves consumers in all decisions that affect their care.
Why BON?
With data-driven algorithms for youth and adults as well as short-term and long-term psychotherapy, BON serves client and patient populations across the life span in any behavioral health treatment with any modality of service. In addition to its feasibility and ease of use, there are eight other good reasons to implement BON.
Why BON? Eight Good Reasons
BON solves the problems in the field.
Despite overall effectiveness, dropouts are a problem, many don’t benefit, and therapists vary in effectiveness. Via BON’s continuous monitoring of client progress and the alliance, clinicians and agencies can alter interventions, improve outcomes and reduce both dropouts and therapist variability.
BON has scientifically demonstrated improved outcomes.
Ten RCTs have shown that BON delivers with youth and adults, in individual, couple, and group therapy, with both mental health and substance abuse problems, and in Europe and Asia.
BON is a demonstrated real world, quality improvement strategy.
Proven results in the trenches of public behavioral health, BON may be integrated with any model of practice and applies to all diagnostic categories.
BON enhances the factors that promote success.
Collaborative monitoring of outcome engages the most potent source of change, clients, thereby heightening hope for improvement, and tailors services to client preferences maximizing the alliance and participation.
BON incorporates the most robust predictors of success.
That is, early change and the alliance. Monitoring change and the alliance provides a tangible way to identify nonresponding clients and relationship problems before clients drop out or a negative outcome.
BON promotes multicultural competence and social justice.
Routinely requesting, documenting, and responding to client feedback transforms power relations by privileging client beliefs and goals over potential culturally biased practices. BON provides a methodology to discuss marginalization and therapist client differences.
BON accelerates improvement at organizational and practitioner levels.
BON takes the guesswork out of getting better. Forget about Deliberate Practice and other empirically unsupported methods marketed by the field’s snake oil peddlers. Embracing non-responding clients and following the data encourages individual and programmatic improvement.
One size fits all.
No one can successfully navigate the use of multiple measures, nor can anyone make sense of aggregated client improvement across programs based on multiple measures. BON uses one brief, reliable and valid outcome measure across client populations and service delivery settings making implementation and comparison feasible and accurate.
Why BON Resources
Barry L. Duncan, Psy.D. developed PCOMS and created BON, and is the leader of the organization responsible for its scientific credibility, evidence-based designation, and commitment to social equity. His twenty plus years of MBC clinical and research experience is reflected in every aspect of BON.