Facilitative interpersonal skills in benign versus challenging therapy situations in trainee therapists: a pilot study

Research in Psychotherapy Psychopathology Process and Outcome, vol. 27

Abstract

Therapists' responses to challenging therapy situations on the Facilitative Interpersonal Skills (FIS) performance task are a significant predictor of therapists' differences in treatment outcomes. The aim of this study was to assess whether the complexity of the therapy situation influenced the facilitative interpersonal skills of trainees. Trainee therapists (n=46) participated in an experiment in which they responded to a set of challenging and benign (i.e., non-challenging) video vignettes of therapy situations of the FIS performance task. Their responses were video recorded and coded by four independent raters. Results showed that trainees scored significantly higher on the FIS performance task responding to benign therapy situations than responding to challenging situations. This is the first study to investigate difficulty of therapy situations as a potential predictor or trainees interpersonal skills. Further research is needed to replicate these results in a larger sample.

Authors 4

1. Kim de Jong corresponding Aachen Clinical Psychology Unit Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Clinical Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University. k.de.jong@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

   Clinical Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

2. Johanna Wilkens Aachen Clinical Psychology Unit Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

   Leiden University

   Affiliation as printed

   Clinical Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University. j.m.wilkens@fsw.leidenuniv.nl

   Clinical Psychology Unit, Institute of Psychology, Leiden University

3. Timothy Anderson

   Ohio University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH. andersot@ohio.edu

   Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH

4. Kane Steggles

   University of Southampton

   Affiliation as printed

   School of Psychology, University of Southampton. kane-steggles@hotmail.com

   School of Psychology, University of Southampton