California Psychotherapy Alliance Scale (CALPAS): psychometric properties of the German version for group and individual therapy patients.

BACKGROUND: Valid and internationally used instruments measuring therapeutic alliance are fundamental for psychotherapy research and practice. The main goal of this study was to validate a German version of the California Psychotherapy Alliance Scale (CALPAS) for the individual and the group therapy setting. METHODS: A total of 203 patients undergoing individual or group therapy filled out the CALPAS right after a therapy session. To test convergent and discriminant validity, a subsample of group therapy patients were handed out the Group Climate Questionnaire (GCQ) and a short form of the Symptom-Checklist (SCL-K-9). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The German version of the CALPAS showed good psychometric properties. Further, therapeutic alliance was found to be stronger in the individual than in the group context, suggesting a less central (or different) role played by group therapists. Clinical implications and possible focus of future research are discussed.

E-mail support as an adjunct to cognitive-behavioral group therapy for social anxiety disorder: Impact on dropout and outcome.

The present study evaluates the impact of semi-individualized e-mail support as an adjunct to cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) for social anxiety disorder (SAD) on dropout and outcome. The effectiveness of additional semi-individualized e-mail support was evaluated for the whole sample and for a subsample of patients at risk of dropping out of therapy. A total of 91 patients with SAD were allocated either to the intervention condition (CBGT with e-mail support), or to the control condition (CBGT without e-mail support). Anxiety symptoms, depression, global symptomatology and life satisfaction were assessed at pretreatment, post-treatment and follow-up (3, 6 and 12 months). From pre-treatment to post-treatment, both groups improved significantly on all symptom measures. Therapy gains were maintained at the 1-year follow-up. Subsample analyses showed that CBGT+e-mail was more effective than CGBT alone in reducing symptom severity among patients missing at least two therapy sessions. Additionally, in this subgroup, those receiving additional e-mail support showed a tendency towards lower dropout rates. Based on the results of this study, semi-individualized e-mail support between sessions seems to enhance the effectiveness of CBGT for SAD patients at risk of dropping out of treatment and should be considered as an additional tool in clinical practice.