Clinical Utility of the CORE-OM and CORE-10

This study explores the clinical utility of the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-10 (CORE-10). This is an exploratory, naturalistic longitudinal study conducted in two psychotherapy services that offer training for psychology students in Ecuador. These services provide affordable and free short-term psychotherapy based on a constructivist approach. In total, 259 adult clients presenting non-severe mental disorders and symptoms and/or relational problems were included, 147 were women (57%); ages ranged from 18 to 66 with mean 28.70 years. At first contact we collected socio-demographic data and responses to the Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation-Outcome Measure, Outcome Questionnaire-45.2 and the Schwartz Outcome Scale-10-E. Data were analyzed with statistical estimation using bootstrap 95% confidence intervals to assess clinical utility and psychometric adequacy of the measures for similar services and clients. The measures showed good acceptability and adequate internal consistency, similar to findings from the United Kingdom and Spain. There were strong correlations between all scale scores of the CORE-OM except for risk. Adequate convergent validity was found for the CORE-OM with the other two measures. There were no significant gender, age, or education effects for initial scores. Comparing help-seeking and non-help-seeking populations, large effect sizes were found for the CORE-OM total, non-risk, and risk scores, and medium effect size for the CORE-10 scores. Cut-off scores for the CORE-OM and CORE-10 were 1.26 and 1.51, respectively. The measures showed sensitivity to change with large effect sizes for all scores, except for risk, which shows a medium effect size. The CORE-OM and CORE-10 are suitable for clinimetric use, the former for broad assessment of psychological state and the latter for tracking changes in psychotherapy. Recommendations are made for assessment structure designs and data interpretation for routine use particularly in Latin America.