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Therapist's Assessment of Their Patient's Session‐Level Emotional Processes: Validation of the In‐Session Patient Affective Reactions Questionnaire–Clinician Form

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: ABSTRACT Background The current study aimed to evaluate a therapist version of the in‐Session Patient Affective Reactions Questionnaire (SPARQ). The SPARQ was developed to assess a pattern of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors experienced by a patient toward their therapist during a session. The SPARQ has existed only as a patient self‐report measure and has demonstrated promise as a psychotherapy process measure. This study intended to validate a complementary clinician‐report version of the questionnaire: the SPARQ‐C. Methods A sample of licensed mental health clinicians (N = 151) completed the SPARQ‐C along with other measures. Data analysis involved exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Reliability and convergent and criterion‐related validity of the SPARQ‐C were also evaluated. Results The SPARQ‐C preserved the two‐factor structure: positive affect (k = 4, ω total = 0.84) and negative affect (k = 4, ω total = 0.70), which correlated r = 0.26. CFA using the a priori model two‐factor model based on the patient‐report version provided the following fit indices: χ2[19] = 26.01, CFI = 0.98; TLI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.05 (90% CI [0.00, 0.09]), and SRMR = 0.05. The SPARQ‐C scales demonstrated convergent and criterion‐related validity with measures of other elements of the therapeutic relationship, session outcome, and demographic‐clinical variables. Discussion The SPARQ‐C is a reliable measure suitable for both clinical and research purposes. It allows for a nuanced assessment of patients' session‐level affective responses towards their therapist from the clinician's perspective.

Source: Journal of Clinical Psychology

DOI: 10.1002/jclp.70023

Authors: Alberto Stefana, Buket Ünver, Eduard Vieta, Paolo Fusar‐Poli, Eric A. Youngstrom