Prior meta-analyses have found a moderate but robust relationship between alliance and outcome across a broad spectrum of treatments, presenting concerns, contexts, and measurements. However, there continues to be a lively debate about the therapeutic role of the alliance, particularly in treatments that are tested using randomized clinical trial…

Traces the concept of the therapeutic alliance from psychodynamic origins to current formulations. Includes the relationship between a positive alliance and therapeutic success; the path of the alliance over time; examination of variables that predispose individuals to develop a strong alliance, and exploration of in-therapy factors that influence…

Examined time-limited therapies provided by two therapists to two clients to discover relations between clients' understanding of therapists' intentions and episode level outcome, similarities and differences between the participants' valuing of different intentions, and shifts in intentions valued from beginning to end of therapy. Documented some…

Clients (n=41) with sleep onset delay problem were randomly assigned to symptom prescription or stimulus control treatments and to one of two levels of therapist contact. No differences were associated with levels of therapist contact; the two treatments were equally effective in reducing sleep onset delay. (Author/ABL)

Provides present stages of development and preliminary validation of the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI), a self-report instrument for measuring the quality of alliance. Results from three studies were used to investigate instrument's reliability and validity and the relations among the WAI scales. Data show that WAI is reliably correlated with a…

Examined time limited (10 sessions) counseling treatments to explore history of working alliance over time. Two counselors working with four clients reported similar patterns of working alliance development. Initial development phase of working relationship appeared to be followed by period when relationship decays, but it appeared that the…

Used meta-analysis to synthesize results of 24 studies (based on 20 distinct data sets) relating quality of working alliance (WA) to therapy outcome. Found moderate but reliable association between good WA and positive therapy outcome. WA quality was most predictive of treatment outcomes based on clients' assessments, less so of therapists'…

To advance research and inform practice, the authors developed an observational rating system of client behavior reflecting strong and weak therapeutic alliances in couple and family therapy. The System for Observing Family Therapy Alliances (SOFTA), in both English and Spanish, has 2 dimensions that are common across therapy modalities…