Measuring Learning in Depression Treatment: A Cognitive Bibliotherapy Test

A test of cognitive bibliotherapy knowledge wasdeveloped and evaluated. Fifty-seven items that relatedto the content of the book, Feeling Good (Burns, 1980),were administered to a total of 99 participants in two depression bibliotherapy studies and toa group of 22 community participants who had notreceived the treatment. Analyses of reliability andvalidity, including an item-response analysis, suggested a 23-item version of the test was optimal.Using the same data, we then tested the hypothesis thatpersons who had read the book would achieve higherscores than those who had not read the book. The test scores reliably distinguished betweenparticipants who had received the treatment and thosewho had not. Cross-validation was undertaken with 21older adult participants in an independent depressiontreatment study, with those who had read the bookachieving higher scores than those who had not.Potential clinical and research uses of the test areproposed.