Goals Form: Reliability, validity, and clinical utility of an idiographic goal‐focused measure for routine outcome monitoring in psychotherapy

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the reliability, validity, and clinical utility of an idiographic, goal‐focused patient‐reported outcome measure: The Goals Form. METHODS: Data were analyzed from 88 participants, across three samples, who had participated in collaborative–integrative psychotherapy at university‐based clinics in the UK. The samples were approximately 70% female with mean age of 30 years old. RESULTS: The psychometric properties of the Goals Form were generally good. Noncompletion of individual items was low, temporal stability tended to be at target levels, and mean change scores showed moderate to good convergent validity against measures of psychological distress. The measure appeared sensitive to change in psychotherapy and was experienced by most patients as helpful. CONCLUSIONS: The Goals Form shows acceptable psychometric and clinical properties for routine outcome monitoring in psychotherapy.