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TitleTherapist ratings of therapeutic alliance and their connections to psychotherapy outcome
NameGillette, Kevin F. (author), Riggs Skean, Karen (chair), Muran, J. (outside member), Rutgers University, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology,
Degree Date2009-05
Date Created2009
SubjectClinical Psychology,
Therapeutic alliance,
Psychotherapy
DescriptionThe present study was designed to build upon extant research in the area of the working alliance in psychotherapy and its relationship to treatment outcome. Utilizing a detailed archival data set and following upon a previous study that drew from this same set, the present study searched for significant interaction between treatment outcome and aspects of the working alliance as seen and rated by psychotherapists treating individual members of an actual clinical population, for a time-limited (30 session) treatment, in one of three different treatment conditions (varying by theoretical orientation, clinical emphasis, and/or technical approach). Therapy outcome was signified by the use of residual gains scores calculated from client responses to multiple assessment instruments, with the scores representing measures of the subject’s post-treatment (1) symptom picture and (2) level of interpersonal problems. The study was designed to detect significant associations between these outcome measures and: the strength of the therapeutic alliance; the “shape” of the alliance as represented by plotting shifts in alliance scores over the course of 30 therapy sessions; and the presence/absence, severity and quantity of alliance ruptures and related phenomena (e.g., alliance ruptures either repaired or unrepaired). Analysis of the data yielded findings consistent with those generally seen in the research literature – i.e., stronger therapeutic alliance was associated with better treatment outcome – as well as findings indicating a differential impact on therapy outcome of alliance ruptures and related phenomena. In addition, therapy treatment condition was found to be associated with whether certain rupture-related phenomena were correlated with therapy outcome. The implications of these findings are discussed, as well as the utility of these findings for the practitioner, the import of using therapists’ ratings of therapeutic alliance, the limitations of the present study, and directions for further research.
NotePsy.D
NoteIncludes bibliographical references (p. 124-127)
Noteby Kevin F. Gillette
Genretheses
Persistent URLhttp://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.2/rucore10001800001.ETD.000051633
Languageeng
CollectionGraduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Organization NameRutgers, The State University of New Jersey
RightsThe author owns the copyright to this work.