Skip to main content
Log in

Alliance Ratings as a Part of Trainee Evaluations Within Family Therapy Training

  • Published:
Contemporary Family Therapy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Client-reported therapeutic alliance scores were examined as a measure of improvement in therapeutic skills across master's-level marriage and family therapy (MFT) training. The results indicate significant correlations between alliance ratings and training variables, with the number of cumulative clinical hours identified as a significant predictor of alliance ratings according to a regression analysis. Trainees lacking the expected number of clinical contact hours in each level of training were found to be more likely to receive consistently marginal alliance ratings. Additionally, alliance ratings were especially useful in identifying trainees who were functioning at minimal levels of competency.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Bordin, E. S. (1979). The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of working alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 16, 252–260.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breunlin, D. C., Schwartz, R. C., Krause, M. S., Kochalka, J., Puetz, R. A., & Van Dyke, J. (1989). The predictions of learning in family therapy training programs. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 15, 387–395.

    Google Scholar 

  • Breunlin, D. C., Schwartz, R. C., Krause, M. S., & Selby, L. M. (1983). Evaluating family therapy training: The development of an instrument. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 9, 37–47.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, K., Fournier, D. G., & Hendrix, C. C. (1999). Evaluating trainees' skill development: The Family Therapy Skills Checklist. Contemporary Family Therapy, 21, 353–371.

    Google Scholar 

  • Commission on Accreditation of Marriage and Family Therapy Education. (1996). Standards of accreditation, Version 9.0. Washington, DC: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crane, D. R., Griffin, W., & Hill, R. D. (1986). Influence of therapist skills on client perceptions of marriage and family therapy outcome: Implications for supervision. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 12, 91–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • Deacon, S. A., & Piercy, F. P. (2000). Qualitative evaluation of family therapy programs: A participatory approach. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 26, 39–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heatherington, L., & Friedlander, M. L. (1990). Couple and family therapy alliance scales: Empirical considerations. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 16, 299–306.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hendrix, C. C., Fournier, D. G., & Briggs, K. (2000, October). Do the best trainees make the best therapists? Poster session presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy, Denver, CO.

  • Horvath, A. O., & Greenberg, L. (1986). The development of the Working Alliance Inventory. In L. Greenberg & W. Pinsof (Eds.), The psychotherapeutic process (pp. 529–556). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horvath, A. O., & Greenberg, L. (1989). Development and validation of the Working Alliance Inventory. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 36, 223–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horvath, A. O., & Symonds, B. D. (1991). Relation between working alliance and outcome in psychotherapy: A meta-analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 38, 139–149.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kniskern, D. P., & Gurman, A. S. (1988). Research. In H. Liddle, D. Breunlin, & R. Schwartz (Eds.), Handbook of family therapy training and supervision. (pp. 368–378). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lambert, M. L. (1992). Psychotherapy outcome research: Implications for integrative and eclectic therapists. In J. C. Norcross & M.R. Goldfried (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy integration (pp. 94–129). New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Laszloffy, T. A. (2000). The implications of client satisfaction feedback for beginning family therapists: Back to the basics. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28, 391–397.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson, D. M., & Sivo, S. (1998). Trainees' conjugal family experience, current intergenerational family relationships, and the therapeutic alliance. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 24, 225–231.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luborsky, (1994). Therapeutic alliances as predictors of psychotherapy outcomes: Factors explaining the predictive successes. In A. O. Horvath & L. S. Greenberg (Eds.), The working alliance: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 61–70). New York: Haworth Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mallinckrodt, B., & Nelson, M. L. (1991). Counselor training level and the formation of the psychotherapeutic working alliance. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 38, 133–138.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S. D., Duncan, B. L., & Hubble, M. A. (1997). Escape from Babel: Toward a unifying language for psychotherapy practice. New York: Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mohammed, Z., & Piercy, F. (1983). The effects of two methods of training and sequencing on structuring and relationship skills of family therapists. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 11(4), 64–71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Perlesz, A. J., Stolk, Y., & Firestone, A. F. (1990). Patterns of learning in family therapy training. Family Process, 29, 29–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piercy, F. P., Dickey, M., Case, B., Sprenkle, D., Beer, J., Nelson, T., & McCollum, E. (1995). Admissions criteria as predictors of performance in a family therapy program. The American Journal of Family Therapy, 23(3), 251-259.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piercy, F. P., Laird, R. A., & Mohammed, Z. (1983). A family therapist rating scale. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 9(1), 49–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pinsof, W. M., & Catherall, D. R. (1986). The integrative psychotherapy alliance: Family, couple, and individual therapy scales. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy 12, 137–151.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pulleyblank, E., & Shapiro, R. J. (1986). Evaluation of family therapy trainees: Acquisition of cognitive and therapeutic behavior skills. Family Process, 25, 591–598.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quinn, W. H., Dotson, D., & Jordan, K. (1997). Dimensions of therapeutic alliance and their associations with outcome in family therapy. Psychotherapy Research 7, 429–438.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stolk, Y., & Perlesz, A. J. (1990). Do better trainees make worse family therapists? A follow-up study of client families. Family Process, 29, 45–58.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tucker, S. J., & Pinsof, W. M. (1984). The empirical evaluation of family therapy training. Family Process, 23, 437–456.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zaken-Greenberg, F., & Neimeyer, G. J. (1986). The impact of structural family therapy training on conceptual and executive therapy skills. Family Process, 25, 599–608.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Davenport, B.R., Ratliff, D. Alliance Ratings as a Part of Trainee Evaluations Within Family Therapy Training. Contemporary Family Therapy 23, 441–454 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013053028881

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1013053028881

Navigation