Can the content of a client's construing of personality development be used to predict outcome in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)?
Year: 2009
Type: dissertation
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Background: A variety of factors impact on the outcome of therapy including the therapeutic\nrelationship, the therapist, the family background and co-morbid problems of clients. The Personal\nConstructs of clients, particularly their concept of ideal self and presenting problem, have been found\nto affect outcome in therapy. However the impact of a client’s wider pattern of construing is an area\nthat has been neglected. In particular, this study investigated whether clients’ constructs of factors\ninfluencing personality development were associated with outcome in cognitive behaviour therapy\n(CBT) groups.\nMethod: Clients were recruited from CBT groups for a range of different clinical presentations.\nThe study was in three stages. In stage one participant’s constructs around factors influencing\npersonality development were found using dyadic elicitation. In stage two, a participant group\ncategorised the constructs, and all participants then ranked the constructs using a modified resistance\nto change methodology. In the third stage, the ranking of constructs was compared between\nparticipants with good or poor therapeutic outcomes using a Mann-Whitney analysis.\nResults: A total of 26 participants were recruited, of whom 22 were involved in the comparison of\ngood and poor outcome. Participants identified sixteen constructs of influences on personality\ndevelopment. A particularly sophisticated hierarchical model was developed spontaneously by\nparticipants, providing methodological validation. In comparing groups, it was found that constructs\nabout education being ranked low were associated with poor outcome, and dropping out of therapy.\nConclusions: CBT groups have many parallels to educational settings. Therefore it was\nhypothesised that if individuals ranked education constructs low they would find it more difficult to\ngain benefit from a CBT group. It was suggested that rather than assigning clients to treatment based\non diagnosis, more attention should be given to what they construe as ‘helpful’.
Author: Christopher John Cutler
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W346417547