Measuring therapist technique in psychodynamic psychotherapies. Development and use of a new scale.

Abstract

Treatment manuals are becoming a requirement for conducting quality psychotherapy research. What the field lacks, however, are reliable, valid, and cost-efficient instruments that can be used to measure a wide variety of prescribed therapeutic techniques. This article describes the development and use of a new instrument, the Interpretive and Supportive Technique Scale (ISTS). It is designed to measure interpretive and supportive features of technique for a broad range of dynamically oriented psychotherapies. Data concerning the psychometric properties of the ISTS are presented from two studies. The findings suggest that the ISTS is a potentially useful tool for measuring interventions for different forms of dynamically oriented psychotherapy.