(PS12-A18) A Pilot Evaluation of the Therapy Assessment of Skills Competency (TASC):

Data supports the efficacy of psychotherapy for clients with approximately 70% receiving reliable change, however, many do not benefit, dropouts are frequent, and less than 50% can be considered “recovered” after treatment (Lambert, 2013).  Regular clinical assessment enhances the ability to identify clients who are not improving as expected and hence at risk of a poor treatment outcome (Castonguay et al., 2013; Lutz et al., 2015).  Evidence-based assessment is essential to clinical care and occurs at different points with different functions: diagnostic (Antony & Barlow, 2020), progress monitoring (de Jong et al., 2021, Lambert et al., 2018) and outcomes (Hollon, et al., 2014).  However, each of these essential components to clinical care are not without limitations. Diagnostic assessment informs whether one meets diagnostic criteria for a disorder, but doesn’t inform as what to do clinically for THIS client.  Progress monitoring communicates if we seeing an effective reduction in symptoms, but doesn’t tell us the mechanism of change. Outcomes assessment informs as to whether the client got better/showed greater symptom reduction at the conclusion of psychotherapy, but it doesn’t tell us what led to this change. Research has shown a molecular approach which interventions are key to clinical change, but we do not know why some clients engaging in a molecular approach to clinical care get better, while others do not. Scales exist that evaluate the competency of the clinician (e.g., CTRS: Goldberg, et al., 2020) but even still not all clients treated by more competent clinicians get better as motivational, individual, alliance, and contextual factors may treatment efficacy. Unified protocols for treatment (Sakiris, et al., 2019) teach specific skills, but it may be how well the client performs the clinical skills as being a predictor of change. The Therapy Assessment of Skills Competency (TASC) addresses this need. The pilot version of the TASC has 33 items that reflect a number of the core clinical skills often seen within the broad umbrella of CBT. These skills include: CT, REBT, BA, SPS, and DPMRT.  Clients rate the frequency with which they practiced these skills as well as how effective they believe they were in performing these skills before the next session and clinicians receive this data to guide which skills may benefit from additional review or practice. The TASC assists clinicians in linking skills in relation to symptom change to guide clinical interventions. Results of a study where the TASC has been piloted among clinicians with adult clients with a range of affective and behavioral disorders are presented. Clients were administered the TASC along with the DERS (Hallion et al., 2018) and the BSI (Derogatis, (2001). Clinicians may choose to not have clients rate skills until after they have been taught these skills clinically. Clinicians may also add “flex items” to reflect new skills taught within the clinical work. Preliminary results link TASC frequency of application and perceived competency with clinical gains (DERS and BSI). Clinical use of the TASC was shown to be related to an increase in skill application. Clinicians reported satisfaction with the TASC for ease of use and clinical efficacy. Limitations and future directions are provided.