Therapist’s effect on children’s therapeutic alliance: A naturalistic study

CASARI, LEANDRO; ARIA, MALENKA; GÓMEZ PENEDO, JUAN MARTÍN; ROUSSOS, ANDRÉS; ISON, MIRTA SUSANA; GOMEZ, BEATRIZ

Dublín

Congreso; 54th International Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research; 2023

Society for Psychotherapy Research

The therapeutic alliance (TA) has been shown to be a predictor of psychotherapy treatment success. In child psychotherapy, the amount of information on this construct is scarce. Objectives. 1) To estimate the therapist effects on children therapeutic alliance (TA); 2) to analyse if therapist therapeutic alliance predicts children therapeutic alliance; 3) to analyse if children´s age and gender predict children therapeutic alliance; 4) to analyse if the therapist`s characteristics predicts children therapeutic alliance. Methods. The sample was integrated by 77 children undergoing psychotherapy in Argentina and their therapists (N= 29). As measures the Therapy Alliance Scale for Children (TASC) and the Therapist´s Personal Style Questionnaire (PST-Q) we used. Results. There are therapist effects on children TA and in therapist TA. Therapist TA predicts children TA. Children´s age and gender didn´t have an effect on their own TA. Therapists with more experience achieved higher scores of children TA. Finally, the Operative dimension of the PST had a negative effect on children`s TA. Conclusion. We found a positive effect of the therapist´s TA on children TA, especially in the preference for using more spontaneous intervention techniques. We discuss the implications for the training of children psychotherapists.