Criteria for Evaluating Treatment Guidelines
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Geoffrey M. Reed, Practice Directorate, American Psychological Association, 750 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002–4242.
This document was approved as policy of the APA in August 2000. This document replaces as policy and is in part a revision of an earlier document, the Template for Developing Guidelines: Interventions for Mental Disorders and Psychosocial Aspects of Physical Disorders (), approved by the APA Council of Representatives in February 1995. The 1995 document was developed by the Task Force on Psychological Intervention Guidelines, which represented a collaborative effort of the APA Board of Professional Affairs (BPA), the APA Board of Scientific Affairs (BSA), and the APA Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice (CAPP). The task force included David Barlow, chair; Susan Mineka, co-vice chair; Elizabeth Robinson, co-vice chair; Daniel J. Abrahamson; Sol Garfield; Mark S. Goldman; Steven D. Hollon; and George Stricker.
At its August 1997 meeting, the APA Council of Representatives approved a motion requesting that within a three-year time frame, BPA conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the Template for Developing Guidelines () and the experience with its implementation. This motion also requested that BPA recommend revisions to the document based on this evaluation. The Template Implementation Work Group—a continuing collaboration among BPA, BSA, and CAPP—was charged with this task. The work group included Daniel J. Abrahamson, chair; Nancy C. Bologna; Steven D. Hollon; Ivan J. Miller; Elizabeth Robinson; and George Stricker. The work group's efforts were informed by extensive commentary from a wide range of reviewers, both within and outside APA governance.
We in the Template Implementation Work Group thank three chairs of BPA who provided encouragement, support, and detailed input over the course of the revisions: Robert A. Brown (1998), Ronald H. Rozensky (1999), and Suzanne Bennett Johnson (2000). Under the leadership of Russ Newman, APA Practice Directorate staff members Christopher J. McLaughlin, Georgia Sargeant, and Robert W. Walsh provided the horsepower needed to steer this endeavor through multiple revisions and logistical roadblocks. Finally, the work group expresses its deepest appreciation to Geoffrey M. Reed, without whose inspiration, intellectual challenge, sense of humor, and true leadership we could not have sustained this effort.
A checklist for use in applying the criteria contained in this document to the evaluation of guidelines is available online at http://www.apa.org/practice/guidelines/treatcrit.html.
American Psychological Association
