Stefana Alberto, Fusar-Poli Paolo, Vieta Eduard, Youngstrom Eric A
Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, 27100, Italy.
Department of Psychosis Studies, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, London, England, SE5 8AF, UK.
Open Res Eur. 2024 Jun 4;3:133. doi: 10.12688/openreseurope.16466.2. eCollection 2023.
There is a growing recognition of the key role of the therapeutic relationship in the outcomes of psychotherapy. However, current understanding of its specific components, their interplay and related patient-therapist dynamics is limited.
(a) To validate two self-report measures to assess subjective affective reactions of patients toward their psychotherapists during specific therapy sessions, and (b) to explore the relationships and dynamics among four elements of the therapeutic relationship: patient reactions toward the therapist, working alliance, alliance ruptures and repairs, and the real relationship.
This study uses a nonrandomized, two-time point longitudinal design. The target population is adult patients currently engaged in individual psychotherapy for heterogeneous mental conditions. Participants are recruited through two online recruitment platforms: Research for Me and ResearchMatch. Data collection involves administering two surveys through the Qualtrics online survey platform. The baseline survey assesses information about the most recent therapy session and the preceding week, while the follow-up survey collects data on the subsequent therapy session and the days leading up to it.
This research offers three main contributions: (a) it furthers evidence-based assessment in psychotherapy by creating and validating two novel, succinct self-report tools; (b) it enhances theoretical understanding within therapeutic relationship research by exploring the significant impact of patients' perceptions of relationship elements on session outcomes variability; and (c) it will identify therapeutic relationship elements that can either enhance or hinder the overall relationship quality and session outcomes.
The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The results will be published in indexed peer-reviewed journals and presented at relevant psychology and psychiatry conferences.
治疗关系在心理治疗结果中的关键作用日益受到认可。然而，目前对其具体组成部分、它们之间的相互作用以及相关的患者 - 治疗师动态的理解有限。
（a）验证两种自我报告测量方法，以评估患者在特定治疗 session 期间对其心理治疗师的主观情感反应，以及（b）探索治疗关系的四个要素之间的关系和动态：患者对治疗师的反应、工作联盟、联盟破裂与修复以及真实关系。
本研究采用非随机、两个时间点的纵向设计。目标人群是目前因各种心理状况接受个体心理治疗的成年患者。通过两个在线招募平台“为我研究”和“研究匹配”招募参与者。数据收集通过 Qualtrics 在线调查平台进行两项调查。基线调查评估有关最近一次治疗 session 以及前一周的信息，而随访调查收集关于随后治疗 session 及其之前几天的数据。
本研究提供了三项主要贡献：（a）通过创建和验证两种新颖、简洁的自我报告工具，进一步推动了心理治疗中的循证评估；（b）通过探索患者对关系要素的感知对 session 结果变异性的重大影响，增强了治疗关系研究中的理论理解；（c）它将识别出可以增强或阻碍整体关系质量和 session 结果的治疗关系要素。
该研究方案已获得北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校机构审查委员会的批准。研究结果将发表在索引同行评审期刊上，并在相关的心理学和精神病学会议上展示。
