| Summary: | There is considerable interest in identifying factors that predict outcome from psychological treatment. This review examines the relationship between readiness / stage of change at entry to CBT treatment and treatment attendance or outcome in people with mental health problems other than addiction. A systematic literature search identified 20 eligible studies of which 19 were included in the narrative synthesis. Seventeen explored the relationship between readiness and symptom outcome, with a majority (n=12) identifying at least one statistically significant relationship between variables, either directly or in interaction with another measure. A number of these also tested other associations which were non-significant. In contrast, five studies explored the association between readiness and treatment attendance, and findings were inconclusive. The review identified little evidence that the association between readiness and outcome varied according to clinical problem being treated or measure of readiness used. The five studies adopting an RCT design identified no evidence of differences in the relationship between readiness and outcome when comparing CBT to other psychotherapeutic interventions. Study quality was variable, and a range of methodological limitations and potential avenues for future work are discussed.
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