SELF-MANAGEMENT INTERVENTIONS IN HEALTH AND MENTAL-HEALTH SETTINGS - EVIDENCE OF MAINTENANCE AND GENERALIZATION

Do intervention gains maintain and generalize once treatment has ended? This article reports the findings of a study in which the authors reviewed recently published self-management clinical outcome studies that used self-management methods to treat common presenting clinical problems of adults in health and mental health settings. For each study, the authors identified the measurement of target problems, specific treatment components, design, length of follow-up, and evidence of maintenance and generalization. Results suggested that slightly more than one-third (37 percent) of the studies contained evidence of maintenance. Far fewer contained evidence of response and stimulus generalization. Self-monitoring is the most regularly used treatment component. The authors discuss the utility of self-management for social work and the lack of these studies in the social work literature.