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Emotion Focused Therapy-Therapist Fidelity Scale (EFT-TFS): Conceptual Development and Content Validity
Wayne H Denton1, Susan M Johnson, Brant R Burleson
1Family Studies Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9121. wayne.denton@utsouthwestern.edu.
Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy
|January 7, 2010
Summary
A new scale, the Emotion Focused Therapy-Therapist Fidelity Scale (EFT-TFS), measures therapist adherence to the EFT model. Expert ratings support its content validity, with 13 items presented for future research.
Area of Science:
- Psychotherapy Research
- Clinical Psychology
- Counseling Psychology
Background:
- Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) is a prominent humanistic, experiential psychotherapy.
- Ensuring therapists adhere to the core principles of EFT is crucial for treatment efficacy.
- A validated instrument to assess therapist fidelity to the EFT model was lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To introduce and describe the development of the Emotion Focused Therapy-Therapist Fidelity Scale (EFT-TFS).
- To establish the content validity of the EFT-TFS through expert review.
- To present the final 13 items of the EFT-TFS.
Main Methods:
- Conceptual development and item generation for the EFT-TFS.
- Survey administration to members of an EFT electronic mailing list (n=130).
- Content validity assessment based on expert ratings of item importance.
Main Results:
- All 13 items of the EFT-TFS were rated as highly important by surveyed EFT therapists.
- These high ratings provide strong support for the content validity of the scale.
- The final 13-item version of the EFT-TFS is presented.
Conclusions:
- The EFT-TFS is a promising new scale for measuring therapist fidelity to the Emotion-Focused Therapy model.
- The scale demonstrates strong content validity based on expert consensus.
- Further research is recommended to establish the psychometric properties and utility of the EFT-TFS.
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