Introduction to the special section on self-monitoring: A major assessment method in clinical psychology.

Abstract

One of the most frequently used assessment methods, self-monitoring (SM), is reviewed in this Special Section. Despite its popularity with applied psychologists, relatively little research on its methodological adequacy or clinical utility has occurred in the past 20 years. The 8 articles invited for this Special Section are designed to renew interest in studying SM. In this regard, their authors have focused on SM as an assessment method, devoting relatively little attention to its use as a treatment procedure. Issues of terminology, SM parameters, and criteria for evaluating the quality of SM data are covered. In addition, descriptions of the use of SM with various clinical problems and populations, along with suggestions for motivating the collection of high-quality data are presented in the articles. Finally, the authors share their impressions of what is needed next if the scientific soundness of the method and its clinical utility are to continue to evolve. Self-monitoring is an assessment method used extensively in clinical psychology (Elliot, Miltenberger, Kaster-Bundgaard, & Lumley, 1996). Though its use is widespread, information as to its psychometric adequacy and research on its clinical utility are not. For a brief period in the late 1960s through the early 1980s, research on self-monitori ng flourished. More recently, however, methodological research has waned. A purpose of the present Special Section of articles is to take stock of the current status of self-monitoring (SM) research and to stimulate more of it. The Special Section's contributors have been chosen to represent a broad spectrum of established researchers and clinicians with extensive expertise in both assessment and intervention. Each treats a particular subset of the literature dealing with SM as an assessment method and emphasizes issues of relevance to that particular subset. The authors were encouraged to focus on assessment rather than treatment applications of SM. Though each contribution is unique, some concerns cut across the different articles and are discussed briefly in this introductory article.

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