Measurement of therapy outcome and maintenance of gains in the behavioral treatment of secondary orgasmic dysfunction.

Choice of therapeutic goals and criteria used for evaluation of therapeutic outcome represent fundamental conceptual and methodological issues. The present investigation examined the relationship between how data were obtained (by retrospective questionnaire or ongoing daily self-monitoring), what outcome criteria were used (behavioral or cognitive-affective), whose data were being analyzed (the female or male partner), and when measurements were taken (at posttherapy or follow-up) in a sample of 23 couples with the problem of secondary orgasmic dysfunction in the wife. The results indicate that retrospective measurement was more optimistic than ongoing; cognitive-affective changes were twice as likely to occur as changes in behaviors; females benefited more than males; and there were considerable losses of therapeutic gains at follow-up. These results underscore the need for multiple measurement techniques and highlight the multidimensional quality of the sexual experience.