An evaluation of Jochim's PT Scale in the prediction of premature termination from outpatient psychotherapy.

Premature termination from psychotherapy has been a persistent problem to therapists. In an effort to identify potential premature terminators, Jochim (1974) examined the items on the Social History Questionnaire and their capacity to differentiate those patients (N = 103) who terminated treatment prematurely from those who remained. The result was a 23-item instrument that was able to identify accurately 91% of the remainers and 92% of the terminators. The purpose of this research was to determine the generalizability of Jochim's PT scale. Using the recommended cut-off scores, 50% of the Ss were classified inaccurately or unclassifiable. The best cut-off score for this sample produced an error rate of 36.9%.