Patient–Therapist Expectancy Convergence and Outcome in Naturalistic Psychotherapy

Gaines, Averi N.

Publication:
Patient–Therapist Expectancy Convergence and Outcome in Naturalistic Psychotherapy

dc.contributor.advisor	Michael J. Constantino
dc.contributor.author	Gaines, Averi N.
dc.contributor.department	University of Massachusetts Amherst
dc.contributor.department	Psychology
dc.date	2024-03-28T20:02:01.000
dc.date.accessioned	2024-04-26T18:09:33Z
dc.date.available	2024-04-26T18:09:33Z
dc.date.submitted	February
dc.date.submitted	2022
dc.description.abstract	Aim: Research on close relationships demonstrates that dyadic convergence, or two people becoming more concordant in their experiences and/or beliefs over time, is commonplace and adaptive. As psychotherapy involves a close relationship, patient–therapist convergence processes may influence treatment-specific outcomes. Although prior research supports that patients and therapists tend to converge on their alliance perspectives over time, which associates with subsequent patient improvement, no research has similarly examined belief convergence during therapy. Accordingly, this study focused on patient–therapist convergence in their outcome expectation (OE), a belief variable associated with patient improvement when measured from individual participant perspectives. I predicted both that significant OE convergence would occur and relate to better posttreatment outcome. Method: Data derived from a trial of naturalistic psychotherapy. Patients and therapists repeatedly rated their respective OE through treatment, and patients rated their symptom/functional outcomes at posttreatment. For dyads (N = 154) with the requisite OE data, I tested my questions using multilevel structural equation modeling. Results: There was no discernable OE convergence pattern over treatment (g100 = 0.02, SE = 0.04, p = .275) and OE convergence was unrelated to outcome at the between-dyad (b02k = 1.86, SD = 10.08, p = .406) and between-therapist (g002 = -0.06, SD = 3.54, p = .473) levels. However, higher early patient OE was significantly associated with better outcome at the between-dyad level (b05k = -0.04, SD = 0.01, p < .001). Discussion: Results suggest that OE may be more of a facilitative patient versus relational process factor.
dc.description.degree	Master of Science (M.S.)
dc.identifier.doi	https://doi.org/10.7275/26968030
dc.identifier.orcid	https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5856-7059
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14394/32827
dc.relation.url	https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2217&context=masters_theses_2&unstamped=1
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.source.status	published
dc.subject	outcome expectation
dc.subject	patient-therapist convergence
dc.subject	naturalistic psychotherapy
dc.subject	patient outcome
dc.subject	dyadic analysis
dc.subject	Clinical Psychology
dc.title	Patient–Therapist Expectancy Convergence and Outcome in Naturalistic Psychotherapy
dc.type	openaccess
dc.type	article
dc.type	thesis
digcom.contributor.author	isAuthorOfPublication\|email:angaines@umass.edu\|institution:University of Massachusetts Amherst\|Gaines, Averi N.
digcom.identifier	masters_theses_2/1156
digcom.identifier.contextkey	26968030
digcom.identifier.submissionpath	masters_theses_2/1156
dspace.entity.type	Publication