Experts who work in the field of mental health, make interventions based on moods or the issues that individuals go through. These interventions are usually carried out under the name of therapy, psychotherapy or psychological counseling in clinical environments with a professional manner. Usually in these clinically conducted studies, the statistical significance of the difference between the pre-test and post-test measurements of the clients is analyzed. However, detection of this difference is mostly made considering the group mean, which falls short in the identification of individual changes (Wise, 2004). It is critical to analyze the clinical significance of the change in clients following the psychological interventions. Clinical significance is the statistical study to determine whether the differences between the pre-test and post-test scores of individuals are clinically significant.
The aim of the this review article is to introduce these widely used methods of clinical significance, and to expedite the use of these methods making them easier to understand for mental health experts or researchers who focus on the differences between the individual test scores in experimental studies or clinical practices in Turkey.
In accordance with the purpose identified, prominent articles regarding clinical significance were studied and evaluated. Based on results from literature review, statistical significance does not guarantee any clinical changes in individuals. It is necessary and crucial to determinate and report the clinical significance of changes in individuals that attend particularly the experimental studies or studies carried out in clinical environments.
Key words: clinical significance, mental health studies, effectiveness of psychological interventions, individual changes
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