The Multitheoretical List of Therapeutic Interventions (MULTI): initial report.

Area of Science:

• Psychotherapy research
• Clinical psychology
• Intervention science

Background:

• Understanding the specific interventions used across diverse psychotherapy orientations is crucial for advancing clinical practice and research.
• Existing assessment tools may not comprehensively capture the multifaceted nature of therapeutic interventions from multiple perspectives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the psychometric properties and utility of the Multitheoretical List of Therapeutic Interventions (MULTI) scale.
• To determine if the MULTI can effectively differentiate and predict interventions across eight distinct psychotherapy orientations.

Main Methods:

• The study assessed the internal consistency, split-half reliability, and interrater reliability of the MULTI subscales.
• Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the fit of a theoretical model of psychotherapy orientations.
• The predictive validity of MULTI subscale levels for psychotherapy session content was examined.

Main Results:

• The MULTI demonstrated moderate to high internal consistency.
• Reliability varied across perspectives (clients, therapists, observers) and rater expertise.
• The MULTI subscales adequately represented different psychotherapy orientations and successfully predicted session content.

Conclusions:

• The MULTI is a promising instrument for systematically investigating therapeutic interventions in various psychotherapy modalities.
• Further research is warranted to refine its reliability, particularly with untrained observers and therapists.
• The MULTI offers a valuable framework for comparative psychotherapy research and clinical training.