Evaluating the efficacy of couple and family therapy

This chapter begins with a consideration of the evolving context of treatment outcome research in couple and family therapy and presents an integrative conceptual model of relational, psychological, and physical health outcomes that are common targets in current work in couple- and family-based interventions. We then turn to a discussion of current methodological, measurement, and statistical issues in couple- and family-based intervention research and provide recommendations for considering amongst alternatives. We close with recommendations for future methodological development in couple and family therapy research. We focus primarily on couple therapy throughout the chapter to ease communication as very similar issues are relevant for both couple and family therapy research.