The development of the inventory of countertransference behavior.

A measure was developed to assess supervisor-perceived countertransference (CT) behavior during counseling sessions. Eleven experts provided face validity for the items, indicating that each item was at least somewhat an expression of countertransference. Exploratory factor analysis of ratings of 126 supervisors of supervisee counseling sessions revealed, as expected, the existence of two factors. However, rather than reflecting the dimensions of overinvolvement and underinvolvement as hypothesized, the factors were better captured by the terms Negative Countertransference and Positive Countertransference. The total scale and each subscale demonstrated high internal consistency. In addition, both positive and negative CT were found to relate positively with an existing one-item index of countertransference behavior and negatively with an existing measure of countertransference management ability. Research and clinical implications are discussed.