Therapists’ Emotional Responses in Individual Therapy with Depressed Adolescents: An Evaluation of the Data Structure of the Feeling-Word Checklist—28

Pernille Brøsholen, Randi Ulberg, Hanne-Sofie Johnsen Dahl and Agneta Thorén
Additional contact information
Pernille Brøsholen: Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1039, Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway
Randi Ulberg: Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1039, Blindern, 0315 Oslo, Norway
Hanne-Sofie Johnsen Dahl: Research Unit, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Vestfold Hospital Trust, P.O. Box 2169, 3125 Tønsberg, Norway
Agneta Thorén: The Erica Foundation, Odengatan 9, P.O. Box 114 24, 911424 Stockholm, Sweden

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 15, 1-15

Abstract: Countertransference (CT) responses during therapy sessions can be understood as the therapist’s emotional reactions towards the patient. Within adolescents’ psychotherapy, little is known about the effects of the therapists’ feelings on treatment outcome. The Feeling-Word Checklist—28 (FWC-28) is a self-report questionnaire designed to evaluate the therapist’s in-session feelings during therapy with younger patients. The aim of the study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the clinician-rated FWC-28 and explore the associations between the CT-subscales and therapeutic alliance. Data were collected from a randomized controlled trial in which 11 therapists specialized in child and adolescent psychotherapy treated 16- to 18-year-old patients ( n = 62) with major depressive disorder in outpatient clinics. The patients received psychodynamic psychotherapy treatment over 28 sessions. Therapists rated their emotional responses towards their patients on FWC-28 after sessions 3, 12, 20, and 28. Principal component analysis (PCA) with oblique rotation was performed to find clinically meaningful subscales of the FWC-28. PCA revealed four clinically meaningful components termed as follows: inadequate, confident, motherly, and disengaged. The psychometric properties of the FWC and the reliability of the CT subscales measured with Cronbach’s alpha were acceptable. The therapist-reported alliance showed significant and clinically meaningful correlations with all CT-subscales. Our findings indicate that the checklist is adequate for clinical practice and countertransference research in adolescents’ psychotherapy.

Keywords: countertransference; adolescents; feeling word checklist; factor analysis; principal component analysis; major depressive disorder; psychometrics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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