Questionnaire on the results of psychotherapy:: reliability and validity of the German translation of the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 (OQ-45.2)

Background: Routine quality management requires instruments, which provide reliable and relevant information on treatment outcome with reasonable effort. Objective: This paper aims on a German adaptation (EB-45) of the Outcome Questionnaire 45.2. Method: The EB-45 was standardized on a non-patient sample of 232 subjects who completed it twice within two weeks. Validity was investigated by comparison with the Symptom Checklist 90, the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, the Social Adjustment Scale. and a Questionnaire on Life-Satisfaction. Results: Estimates of internal consistency varied between .59 and .93 retest-reliability was estimated from .71 to .87. Correlations with the instruments used for validation ranged between .45 and .76. Conclusions: The standardization of the German version of the EB-45 justifies application for evaluation and quality assurance, although the limits of the available sample asks for caution.