Brian Rodgers

Process-experiential/emotion-focused therapy for social anxiety: A hermeneutic single-case efficacy design study

Abstract Social Anxiety (SA) is a common and debilitating problem. Although a range of therapies have been applied to treat SA, only a narrow range of these has been researched to date. In this study, Hermeneutic Single Case Efficacy Design (HSCED) was used to investigate Process-Experiential/Emotion-Focused Therapy (PE-EFT) with a socially isolated client with Social Anxiety. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative data, we constructed a rich case record and a set of documents arguing for and against client change; these were judged by three graduate student peer judges. The judges found the client to have changed substantially over the first 16 sessions of therapy, and PE-EFT was found to have contributed substantially to this change.

Psychometrics of the Personal Questionnaire: a client-generated outcome measure

We present a range of evidence for the reliability and validity of data generated by the Personal Questionnaire (PQ), a client-generated individualized outcome measure, using 5 data sets from 3 countries. Overall pretherapy mean internal consistency (alpha) across clients was .80, and within-client alphas averaged .77; clients typically had 1 or 2 items that did not vary with the other items. Analyses of temporal structure indicated high levels of between-clients variance (58%), moderate pretherapy test-retest correlation (r = .57), and high session-to-session Lag-1 autocorrelation (.82). Scores on the PQ provided clear evidence of convergence with a range of outcome measures (within-client r = .41). Mean pre-post effects were large (d = 1.25). The results support a revised caseness cutoff of 3.25 and a reliable change index interval of 1.67. We conclude that PQ data meet criteria for evidence-based, norm-referenced measurement of client psychological distress for supporting psychotherapy practice and research.

Life space mapping: Preliminary results from the development of a new method for investigating counselling outcomes

Counselling outcomes are often measured in terms of standardised questionnaires. Though efficient for large numbers of participants, this method cannot capture the unique and subtle ‘shifts’ that clients often report when qualitative methods are utilised. Further, such questionnaires usually focus on the individual, missing the wider social implications of therapy. This paper presents the preliminary findings from a study that utilises the clients own perceptions of changes in their “Life Space” to establish the significance of their change process. These results are compared and contrasted with a standard outcome questionnaire and the participants experiences of using the two methods are explored.

Qualitative Methods in Psychotherapy Outcome Research

This chapter highlights the potential and variety of qualitative methods that can be applied to counselling and psychotherapy outcome research. The chapter’s main focus is on outlining the various forms of qualitative data collection methods that are available to researchers. This is followed by an overview of the various qualitative analysis methods that can be utilised for interpreting the data. Finally, the limitations of qualitative outcome research are discussed, including a number of approaches evaluating the credibility of such research.

Measuring Rogers’ conception of personality development: Validation of the Strathclyde Inventory-French Version

ABSTRACT The Strathclyde Inventory (SI) was created as an outcome measure to go beyond symptom intensity. It is designed to assess personality development such as congruent and flexible functioning from a person-centered perspective. The present study validated the data obtained from the 22-item French version of the SI collected in eight samples, including student groups and patients from four different hospital settings. This study describes the psychometric properties of the Strathclyde Inventory-French version. Results indicated high internal consistency and test–retest reliability. A single general Congruence vs. Incongruence factor structure with two subfactors was found. The scale scores indicate sensitivity to the effects of two types of experiential trainings among university students and in an alcohol withdrawal program for hospitalized patients but did not show change in the absence of experiential training and in treatment as usual conditions among cancer and psychiatric patients. Construct validity was confirmed using correlations with data from trait, behavioral and symptom measures. The results indicated that the scale is well designed to assess the process of personality development in training helping professionals and therapy process-outcome studies.

How volunteer person-centered counselors feel they have been affected by not finding work

ABSTRACT Many person-centered therapists provide their services on a voluntary basis wishing to enrich and expand their experiences as individuals and counselors. However, while rewarding, volunteers may also be affected by the difficulties of long-term unemployment. In this study, nine volunteer person-centered counselors in Greece aged 22–65, holding a Diploma in person-centered counseling, were interviewed. Participants were asked about how their experiences of not finding paid work might be affecting both themselves and their client work. The results indicated that long-term unemployment substantially reduces the counselors’ belief in their knowledge, skills, and counseling abilities while at the same time introducing doubts about their choice of profession, and even the very nature of the person-centered counseling process.