First Validation of the Referential Process Post-Session Scale - Therapist Version (RPPS-T).

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychotherapy research
• Clinical psychology

Background:

• Bucci's multiple code theory outlines three phases of the referential process in significant therapeutic change: emotion schema arousal, symbolizing/narrating, and reflecting/reorganizing.
• Current methods for monitoring these phases rely on computerized linguistic analysis of session transcripts, which is time-consuming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a therapist self-report questionnaire, the Referential Process Post-session Scale - Therapist version (RPPS-T), as a less time-consuming measure of the referential process phases.
• To assess the psychometric properties and concurrent validity of the RPPS-T.

Main Methods:

• Three studies were conducted involving psychotherapists completing the RPPS-T after sessions.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to evaluate the scale's structure.
• Correlations were calculated between RPPS-T scores and computerized linguistic measures derived from transcribed sessions.

Main Results:

• An initial 42-item scale was reduced to 12 items based on exploratory factor analysis, revealing a four-factor structure.
• Confirmatory factor analysis supported the four-factor model in a separate dataset.
• The RPPS-T factors, particularly for the symbolizing phase, showed significant correlations with corresponding computerized linguistic measures.

Conclusions:

• The RPPS-T is a valid concurrent measure of the referential process, especially the symbolizing phase.
• The RPPS-T is a potentially useful and efficient instrument for psychotherapy research and clinical supervision.