Validation of the German version of the Comparative Psychotherapy Process Scale

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Psychotherapy Research

Background:

• Differentiating therapeutic approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic therapy (PD) is crucial for research.
• Existing measures may not adequately capture the technical distinctions between CBT and PD in self-report formats.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate a German self-report version of the Comparative Psychotherapy Process Scale (CPPS).
• To assess the CPPS's ability to differentiate between CBT and PD psychotherapy sessions from both therapist and patient perspectives.

Main Methods:

• German translation and validation of the CPPS (20-item scale).
• Correlational analysis between CPPS and Multitheoretical List of Therapeutic Interventions (MULTI-30) subscales.
• Logistic regression to assess discriminative ability for session type (CBT vs. PD).
• Analysis of therapist-patient agreement on session characteristics.

Main Results:

• The German CPPS demonstrated acceptable to good internal consistency (α = .78-.84).
• Strong correlations were found between CPPS subscales and corresponding MULTI-30 subscales (e.g., CBT: r = .85 [therapist], r = .80 [patient]).
• The CPPS accurately classified session types (88.7% therapist-version, 73.6% patient-version; p < .001).

Conclusions:

• The validated German CPPS is a reliable instrument for psychotherapy research.
• It effectively distinguishes between CBT and PD therapeutic processes.
• The scale facilitates further investigation into the specific mechanisms of change in different therapy modalities.