Retrospective Client Interviewing Can Inform Clinicians' Practice and Complement Routine Outcome Monitoring

Objective: While demonstrably beneficial, routine outcome monitoring (ROM) introduces a considerable reductionism in the measurement of psychotherapy change. The goal of this study is to illustrate how retrospective client interviewing can capture the breadth and personal meaningfulness of a client’s change. Method: Four clinical vignettes are presented. The Client Change Interview and Change After Psychotherapy methods were used to assess change alongside standardized outcome measures. Results: Multiple examples of how retrospective interviewing can be used to better understand and contextualize clients’ change and inform the psychotherapy process are presented. Conclusions: Retrospective interviewing can complement ROM by explaining psychotherapy success or failure and by providing longitudinal and multi-level insight into the nature of clients’ changes. Implications for practice-oriented research are explored.