{"id":5389,"date":"2026-05-25T19:46:48","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.psyctc.org\/psyctc\/?post_type=docs&p=5389"},"modified":"2026-05-25T19:46:49","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:46:49","password":"","slug":"consumer-reports-effectiveness-score-cres-4","status":"publish","type":"docs","link":"https:\/\/www.psyctc.org\/psyctc\/glossary2\/consumer-reports-effectiveness-score-cres-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumer Reports Effectiveness Score (CRES-4)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s a simple four item measure first published in 1995 as it was used in a Consumer Reports<\/em> survey. I think that the publication was well known in the U.S.A. for reporting surveys of consumer views and experiences of all sorts of things. The report and the CRES-4 became a real battleground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Details<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The items are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. A 6-point satisfaction rating: \u201cOverall, how satisfied were you with your therapist\u2019s treatment of your problem?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. A 6-point rating of the extent to which treatment had helped with the main presenting problem: \u201cHow much did treatment help with the specific problem that led you to come to treatment?\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. A 5-point retrospective rating of overall emottional state at the beginning of treatment: \u201cWhat was your overall emotional state when you started treatment?\u201d; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. A 5-point rating of overall emotional state at the time of the survey\u2014a follow-up rating: \u201cWhat is your overall emotional state at this time?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I can see that the items ares scores 0 to 5 (items 1 and 2) and 0 to 4 (items 3 and 4) and I can see rating keys in Spanish (from Feixas, Pucurull, Roca, Paz, Garc\u00eda-Grau & Bados (2012). Escala de satisfacci\u00f3n con el tratamiento recibido (cres-4): La versi\u00f3n en espa\u00f1ol. Revista de Psicoterapia, 23(89), 51\u201358. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.33898\/rdp.v23i89.639<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The only psychometric evaluation I have found is in Nielsen, Smart, Isakson, Worthen, Gregersen & Lambert (2004). The Consumer Reports effectiveness score: What did consumers report? Journal of Counseling Psychology<\/em>, 51<\/em>(1), 25\u201337. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1037\/0022-0167.51.1.25<\/a> which looked at correlation with OQ-45 scores in 302 “former counselling center clients” and gives it a rather mixed appraisal. However, I have a sense that a moderately interesting measure got pretty much demolished (not particularly by Nielsen et al. but by others) because the RCT zealots couldn’t stand that it was survey not RCT data. There was much to criticise about the survey but the attacks have always seemed overheated to me, but then I’ve never believed in the RCT for evaluating interventions where you can’t achieve double or triple blinding! I’m involved in looking at it in Spanish in Ecuador so more here later!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Try also<\/h4>\n\n\n\n