{"title":"Direct retrospective measurement of therapeutic changes: an example using the Czech version of the Questionnaire of Personal Changes (Q-PC).","authors":"Tomáš Řiháček, Kateřina Macková, Hynek Cígler","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2024.2370357","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2024.2370357","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>The study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the Czech translation of the Questionnaire of Personal Changes (Q-PC), a measure designed for retrospective (direct) measurement of change in psychotherapy.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A sample of group psychotherapy clients (<i>N</i> = 222) and a nonclinical sample (<i>N</i> = 167) sample were used. Clients in the clinical sample were administered the Q-PC in addition to several pre-post outcome measures. Confirmatory factor analysis, correlational analysis, and structural equation modeling were used to test the Q-PC's factor structure, longitudinal measurement invariance, reliability, convergent validity, sensitivity to change, and other psychometric properties.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The Q-PC demonstrated a unidimensional structure that was strictly invariant between two follow-up measurement waves. The measure also demonstrated excellent reliability and sensitivity to change and good convergent validity. Furthermore, it demonstrated a similar relationship to baseline severity as the pre-post outcome measures.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The retrospective measurement of change is a promising approach that has the potential to complement the traditional pre-post measurement of change.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141560064","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychotherapy ResearchPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2023-09-14DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2254917
David Kindermann, Ivo Rollmann, Maximilian Orth, Hans-Christoph Friederich, Christoph Nikendei
{"title":"Direct and indirect effects of adverse and protective childhood experiences on symptom improvement in psychotherapy.","authors":"David Kindermann, Ivo Rollmann, Maximilian Orth, Hans-Christoph Friederich, Christoph Nikendei","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2254917","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2254917","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To investigate the effects of adverse and protective childhood experiences on symptom improvement in outpatient psychotherapy.</p><p><p>We evaluated <i>n</i> = 648 completed outpatient psychodynamic psychotherapies. First, we estimated the rate of symptom improvement for each patient using a two-stage hierarchical linear model. We then calculated the direct and indirect influences of childhood experiences on the improvement rate using a structural equation model. Personality functioning, according to the Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnosis system, was examined as being a possible mediating factor.</p><p><p>The presence of adverse childhood experiences was directly associated with a slower improvement rate in psychotherapy. Moreover, a higher number of adverse childhood experiences was associated with greater impairments in the ability to communicate as one dimension of personality functioning, which in turn was associated with a slower improvement of symptoms. Protective childhood experiences were associated with fewer impairments in specific dimensions of personality functioning, but had no direct effect on the improvement rate.</p><p><p>Adverse childhood experiences can directly influence the course of psychotherapy. In addition, the communication dimension of personality functioning appears to be a central mediator on which adverse and protective childhood experiences act antagonistically and can thus indirectly affect the improvement rate in psychotherapy.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10230025","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychotherapy ResearchPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2023-09-15DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2255371
Tomáš Řiháček, Mick Cooper, Hynek Cígler, Zhuang She, Gina Di Malta, John C Norcross
{"title":"The Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences: Measurement invariance across international datasets and languages.","authors":"Tomáš Řiháček, Mick Cooper, Hynek Cígler, Zhuang She, Gina Di Malta, John C Norcross","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2255371","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2255371","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>The Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP) is a brief, multidimensional measure of clients' therapy preferences. This study aimed to examine the factor structure and measurement invariance of the C-NIP.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>Fifteen datasets (<i>N</i> = 10,088 observations) representing the C-NIP in nine language versions were obtained from authors of psychometric studies. Confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modeling were used to analyze the data.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>None of the proposed models adequately fit the data. Therefore, a new model was developed that sufficiently fit most of the C-NIP version 1.1 datasets. The new model was invariant up to the strict and means levels across genders, ages, and psychotherapy experience but only up to the metric level across translations.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The C-NIP can be used to compare men and women, people of diverse ages, and people with some vs. no experience with psychotherapy. Lower reliabilities of the C-NIP scales are a limitation.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10263580","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychotherapy ResearchPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2023-09-27DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2259064
Fanny Westin, Alexander Rozental
{"title":"Informing patients about possible negative effects of psychological treatment: A survey of Swedish clinical psychologists' attitudes and practices.","authors":"Fanny Westin, Alexander Rozental","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2259064","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2259064","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>The present study explored Swedish clinical psychologists' attitudes and practices of informing patients about possible negative effects of psychological treatment.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>An anonymous online survey with closed and open-ended questions was distributed via Facebook and two mailing lists. In total, 320 clinical psychologists (age <i>M </i>= 38.6, SD = 10.3; 76% women; 77.3% Cognitive Behavior Therapy) completed the survey. Responses were analyzed using χ<sup>2</sup>, binominal regression analysis, and thematic analysis.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>No significant associations were identified between demographic variables selected a priori and informing patients about possible negative effects, i.e., years in practice, therapeutic orientation, age, and male gender. The thematic analysis resulted in several positive (e.g., creating realistic expectations of treatment and increasing resilience) and negative attitudes (e.g., causing excessive worry) of sharing patients with information about possible negative effects. It also revealed various factors that prevent an open discussion on the topic, despite being seen as important.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The need to offer patients information about possible negative effects should be included in ethical guidelines, codes of conduct, and taught during clinical training. Lack of knowledge, fear, lack of time, and patient characteristics however seem to prevent therapists from discussing the issue during the informed consent procedure.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41137595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychotherapy ResearchPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2023-09-13DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2254467
Stephen A Semcho, Matthew W Southward, Nicole E Stumpp, Michelle M Smith, Martina Fruhbauerova, Shannon Sauer-Zavala
{"title":"Within-person changes in aversive reactivity predict session-to-session reductions in anxiety and depression in the unified protocol.","authors":"Stephen A Semcho, Matthew W Southward, Nicole E Stumpp, Michelle M Smith, Martina Fruhbauerova, Shannon Sauer-Zavala","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2254467","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2254467","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b>ABSTRACT</b>The Unified Protocol (UP) theoretically leads to reductions in emotional disorder symptoms by reducing aversive reactions to emotions. However, aversive reactions can take many forms (e.g., non-acceptance, behavioral avoidance). We examined if (1) multiple aspects of aversive reactivity predicted session-to-session changes in anxiety and depression in the UP, (2) these aspects reflected a single latent construct, and (3) changes in this latent construct predicted changes in anxiety and depression. Participants (<i>N </i>= 70, <i>M</i><sub>age</sub> = 33.74, 67.1% female, 74.3% white) completed six sessions of UP modules and measures of aversive reactivity, anxiety, and depression before each session. We used hierarchical linear modeling and random-intercept cross-lagged panel models to test aspects of aversive reactivity and a latent factor of aversive reactivity, respectively, as predictors of session-to-session changes in anxiety and depression. Within-person improvements in four of five aspects of aversive reactivity predicted decreases in anxiety, and improvements in two aspects predicted decreases in depression. However, within-person improvements in latent aversive reactivity predicted decreases in anxiety at five sessions and in depression across all sessions. These results add to the growing literature highlighting the role of aversive reactivity as a potential transdiagnostic process involved in improvements in emotional disorder symptoms during treatment.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10232793","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychotherapy ResearchPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2023-09-08DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2254918
Jan Alexander de Vos, Mirjam Radstaak, Peter M Ten Klooster, Ernst T Bohlmeijer, Gerben J Westerhof
{"title":"Exploring mental health dynamics during eating disorder treatment: A psychometric network study with panel data.","authors":"Jan Alexander de Vos, Mirjam Radstaak, Peter M Ten Klooster, Ernst T Bohlmeijer, Gerben J Westerhof","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2254918","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2254918","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To explore mental health associations during eating disorder (ED) treatment. Based on the dual-continua model of mental health, general and ED-specific psychopathology, as well as emotional, psychological, and social well-being were considered as mental health domains.</p><p><p>Network analyses with panel data were applied to explore within- (temporal and contemporaneous networks) and between-person effects in a sample of 1250 female ED patients during 12 months of outpatient treatment. The associations between the domains and their centrality were examined. Autoregressive and cross-lagged effects were also estimated.</p><p><p>ED psychopathology was the most central domain in the temporal network. ED psychopathology changes predicted further ED psychopathology changes and small changes in the other domains. Weak bi-directional associations were found between changes in the well-being domains and general psychopathology. In contrast to the temporal network, ED psychopathology was the least central and psychological well-being the most central domain in the contemporaneous and between-subjects networks. This suggests a central role of psychological well-being for experiencing mental health within time points.</p><p><p>ED psychopathology may change relatively independent from other mental health domains. Well-being domains may be considered as more stable aspects of mental health.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10185016","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychotherapy ResearchPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2023-08-23DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2245961
Ofra Kula, Reut Machluf, Ben Shahar, Leslie S Greenberg, Eran Bar-Kalifa
{"title":"The effect of therapists' enactment interventions in promoting vulnerability sharing in emotion focused couple therapy.","authors":"Ofra Kula, Reut Machluf, Ben Shahar, Leslie S Greenberg, Eran Bar-Kalifa","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2245961","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2245961","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>The primary purported change process in emotion-focused therapy for couples (EFT-C) involves partners accessing and revealing their underlying vulnerable emotions and responding empathically when their partners disclose their vulnerable emotions. One main intervention to facilitate vulnerability sharing is enactment - guiding partners to interact directly with each other. The objective of the current study was to identify interventions therapists can use to help partners share vulnerability in the context of enactment. The primary hypothesis of this study was that promoting these interventions would lead to more vulnerability expressions during enactments.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>One hundred and five vulnerability enactment events were identified from videod therapy sessions of 33 couples dealing with a significant emotional injury who received 12 sessions of EFT-C. Four therapists' interventions were coded: setting a meaningful systemic context, promoting the revealing partner's emotional engagement, preparing the revealing partner for enactment, and promoting the listening partner's emotional engagement in the enactment. In addition, vulnerability expression was coded.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Multilevel regression models showed that two interventions were significantly associated with greater levels of expressed vulnerability: setting a meaningful systemic context, and preparing the revealing partner for enactment.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>These findings suggest that therapists can facilitated vulnerability sharing using specific preparatory interventions.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.9,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10049218","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychotherapy ResearchPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2023-08-31DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2252169
Adam Klocek, Jan Premus, Tomáš Řiháček
{"title":"Applying dynamic systems theory and complexity theory methods in psychotherapy research: A systematic literature review.","authors":"Adam Klocek, Jan Premus, Tomáš Řiháček","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2252169","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2252169","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Dynamic systems theory and complexity theory (DST/CT) is a framework explaining how complex systems change and adapt over time. In psychotherapy, DST/CT can be used to understand how a person's mental and emotional state changes during therapy incorporating higher levels of complexity. This study aimed to systematically review the variability of DST/CT methods applied in psychotherapy research.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A primary studies search was conducted in the EBSCO and Web of Knowledge databases, extracting information about the analyzed DST/CT phenomena, employed mathematical methods to investigate these phenomena, descriptions of specified dynamic models, psychotherapy phenomena, and other information regarding studies with empirical data (e.g., measurement granularity).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>After screening 38,216 abstracts and 4,194 full texts, <i>N</i> = 41 studies published from 1990 to 2021 were identified. The employed methods typically included measures of dynamic complexity or chaoticity. Computational and simulation studies most often employed first-order ordinary differential equations and typically focused on describing the time evolution of client-therapist dyadic influences. Eligible studies with empirical data were usually based on case studies and focused on data with high time intensity of within-session dynamics.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>This review provides a descriptive synthesis of the current state of the proliferation of DST/CT methods in the psychotherapy research field.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10501996","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Psychotherapy ResearchPub Date : 2024-07-01Epub Date: 2023-10-05DOI: 10.1080/10503307.2023.2259070
Selma Gaily-Luoma, Jukka Valkonen, Juha Holma, Aarno Laitila
{"title":"Client-reported impact of the Attempted Suicide Short Intervention Program.","authors":"Selma Gaily-Luoma, Jukka Valkonen, Juha Holma, Aarno Laitila","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2259070","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2259070","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>A history of attempted suicide is the most significant predictor of suicidal death. Several brief interventions aimed at tertiary suicide prevention have been investigated in clinical trials. However, suicide attempt survivors' experiences of such interventions have rarely been reported.</p><p><strong>Objective: </strong>To explore how suicide attempt survivors perceive the impact of the Attempted Suicide Short Intervention Program (ASSIP).</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>We interviewed 14 Finnish adults who had received ASSIP as an adjunct to treatment as usual. Semi-structured interviews took place 4-10 weeks after the last ASSIP session. A conventional content analysis of the interview data is presented.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Three core categories depicting ASSIP's perceived impact were identified. The core category <i>life-affirming change</i> comprised subcategories of <i>feeling better</i>, <i>thinking differently</i>, <i>acting differently</i>, and <i>having new resources</i>. The core category <i>collateral effects</i> comprised <i>difficult feelings</i> and <i>cognitive overload</i>. The core category <i>incompleteness of change</i> comprised <i>lack of desired change</i>, <i>gains as incomplete</i>, <i>need for sustenance</i>, and <i>unrealized potential</i>.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Clients perceived ASSIP as effectively facilitating life-affirming change but agreed that further support was necessary to retain and build on these gains. Identified needs for improvement included more predictable post-ASSIP service paths and more support for involving affected loved ones.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41147956","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Who are the skilled therapists? Associations between personal characteristics and interpersonal skills of future psychotherapists.","authors":"Antje Gumz, Merle Longley, Fabian Franken, Bernd Janning, Georg Hosoya, Leonie Derwahl, Denise Kästner","doi":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2259072","DOIUrl":"10.1080/10503307.2023.2259072","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objective: </strong>Facilitative interpersonal skills (FIS) are a promising variable to explain the so-called therapist effect. We aimed to investigate associations between observer-rated interpersonal skills and self-reported personal characteristics of future therapists.</p><p><strong>Method: </strong>In this cross-sectional observational study, psychology students and trainee therapists completed self-report personality and sociodemographic questionnaires as well as the FIS Performance Task (German version, observer-rated). Mixed multilevel model analysis was conducted with FIS total mean score (mean value of 312 individual ratings [13 video-clips, 8 FIS-items, 3 raters]) as dependent variable, therapist ID and FIS clip ID as random effects and 15 therapist variables as fixed effects.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>In the present sample consisting of 177 participants (age: M = 29.8 years (SD = 7.3), [18,59]; 79.1% female, 20.9% male) greater therapists' experience level, male gender and lower levels of alexithymia were predictive for higher FIS score when statistically controlling for other therapist variables in the model. Age, self-reported childhood maltreatment, attachment style, emotion regulation and self-concept variables turned out to be unrelated.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The results can inform psychotherapy training programs. They specifically support the importance of addressing therapists' potential difficulties in recognizing and verbalizing emotions. This is in line with theoretical literature on alliance ruptures and premises of the Alliance-focused training.</p>","PeriodicalId":48159,"journal":{"name":"Psychotherapy Research","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2024-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10362562","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}