There has been little psychometrically sound process research in group psychotherapy. This proposal attempts to study and more fully develop three significant group process scales. The major scale examined here is one which is used to rate cohesion in group treatment. Also studied are a scale used to measure therapeutic work in group treatment and one which explores therapeutic alliance in groups. For all process measures studied, reliability and validity are examined extensively. Additionally, in a pilot study we apply the Rice and Greenberg (1984) task analysis method to group process in order to learn more about how therapist interactions effect cohesion, alliance, work and ultimately outcome. Eighteen psychotherapy groups will have been videotaped from beginning to end as part of a separate clinical trial examining the efficacy of time-limited group treatment. Patients in these groups (who are young adults in their early 20's to mid-30's, seeking mental health treatment for issues of depression, anxiety, social isolation and various characterological problems) are asked to complete an extensive battery of self-report outcome measures. These measures include: the SCL-90, Coopersmith Self-Esteem Measure, the UCLA Loneliness Scale, amongst others. Patients are also interviewed using the Social Adjustment Scale, as is a """"""""significant other"""""""" of the patient's choosing. This large outcome battery is administered before, after, and one year after the end of treatment. Group Leaders also rate patients' functioning before and after treatment. The videotapes of the therapy groups studied will be rated using three process instruments: The Harvard Community Health Plan Group Cohesiveness Scale (HCHP-GCS), the Therapeutic Work Rating System (TWS) and the Penn Helping Alliance Measure (modified for group therapy). This study is a large undertaking aimed at developing usable and significant process measures for group psychotherapy as well as beginning to move toward a more precise science of group treatment.
| Soldz, S; Budman, S; Demby, A et al. (1990) Patient activity and outcome in group psychotherapy: new findings. Int J Group Psychother 40:53-62 |
| Budman, S H; Soldz, S; Demby, A et al. (1989) Cohesion, alliance and outcome in group psychotherapy. Psychiatry 52:339-50 |
