Prioritizing access to psychotherapy services: The Client Priority Rating Scale

Determining who gets priority to psychotherapy services within budget-limited health services remains a dilemma. This study set out to investigate a new method of triage using the Client Priority Rating Scale (CPRS). Clinicians made weighted ratings in the domains of Suicidality, Severity of Presenting Problem, Strength of Internal Coping Resources, Availability of Interim Care Options and Possible Negative Impact of Waiting. The total score was then used to prioritize waiting times for psychotherapeutic services. In order to assess its utility, 68 clients who had been assigned CPRS scores were studied. The CPRS was found to have good inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. As predicted, those with higher CPRS scores were significantly more likely to commence psychotherapy treatment before those with lower scores. CPRS score was also significantly related to diagnosis and social and psychological functioning. The CPRS method of triage is one approach that determines priority for clients seeking psychotherapy services. Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.