Rating scale of therapists' systemic responses in an individual treatment context

This study involves the development of a process study instrument that measures therapists' systemic responses in an individual treatment context. The scale captures the quintessential elements of the family systems approach, namely, interventions that address interactional sequences of behaviors and contextual concerns. Two hundred and thirty sessions from 15 clients were rated using this scale. An interrater reliability of .62 was attained at the session level; at the client level, reliability reached an average of .89. Analyses with the 15 cases did not reveal a significant relationship between process variables and outcome measures. However, exploratory analysis of 11 clients, excluding cases that might have other overriding factors that impact treatment outcome, revealed significant findings confirming the predictive validity of the scale.