Resource Activation during the first psychotherapy session and its relation with early therapeutic change

Abstract

Objective: the objective of this paper is to determine the differences in the degree to which therapists focus their interventions on activating clients' resources during the first session of psychotherapy processes with and without Early Therapeutic Outcomes (ETO), and to characterize these interventions. Method: a sample of 32 outpatient psychotherapy processes was collected, carried out in routine service delivery contexts and conducted by therapists with different theoretical orientations. The therapies were grouped according to the presence or absence of ETO, evaluated from the difference in well-being reported by clients between the first and fourth session, through the Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45.2; Lambert et al.,1996). To assess the extent to which the therapists' activity focused on RA in both groups, the Wirkfaktoren-K (Klaus Grawe Effectiveness Factors; von Consbruch et al., 2013) instrument was used by independent judges. Subsequently, a Welch's t-test of unequal variances was performed, based on the averages of AR scores, between both groups. Results: significant differences were found between both groups. Specifically, therapists in the "With ETO" group spent 3 times more minutes working on RA than those in the "Without ETO" group. In addition, detailed evidence is provided on the variation of the focus on RA throughout the session and the proportion in which different RA-related content is addressed in both groups.