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Patient Attachment to Therapist Rating Scale: development and psychometric properties
Peter Lilliengren1, Andrzej Werbart, Pia Risholm Mothander
1a Department of Psychology , Stockholm University , Sweden.
Objective:
To report on the development and initial psychometric properties of a new rating scale for patent-therapist attachment.
Method:
Seventy interviews from the Young Adult Psychotherapy Project (YAPP) were rated.
Results:
Excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α > .90) was observed for all four subscales (Security, Deactivation, Hyperactivation, and Disorganization). Three subscales showed good inter-rater reliability (ICC > .60), while one (Hyperactivation) had poor (ICC < .40). Correlations with measures of alliance, mental representations, and symptom distress support the construct validity of the reliable subscales. Exploratory factor analysis indicated three underlying factors explaining 82% of the variance.
Conclusions:
The Patient Attachment to Therapist Rating Scale is a promising approach for assessing the quality of attachment to therapist from patient narratives. Future development should focus on improving the discrimination of the insecure subscales.
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