Determining differences between therapists using an extended version of the facilitative interpersonal skills performance test.

OBJECTIVES: The therapist-facilitative interpersonal skills (FIS) has shown to predict therapy outcomes, demonstrating that high FIS therapists are more effective than low FIS therapists. There is a need for more insight into the variability in strengths and weaknesses in therapist skills. This study investigates whether a revised and extended FIS-scoring leads to more differentiation in measuring therapists' interpersonal skills. Furthermore, we explorative examine whether subgroups of therapists can be distinguished in terms of differences in their interpersonal responses. METHOD: Using secondary data analysis, 93 therapists were exposed to seven FIS-clips. Responses of therapists using the original and the extended FIS scoring were rated. RESULTS: Three factors were found on the extended FIS scoring distinguishing supportive, expressive, and persuasive interpersonal responses of therapists. A latent profile analysis enlightened the presence of six subgroups of therapists. CONCLUSION: Using the revised and extended FIS-scoring contributes to our understanding of the role of interpersonal skills in the therapeutic setting by unraveling the question what works for whom.

Psychometric analysis of the Dutch language Facilitative Interpersonal Skills (FIS) video clips.

With the motivation of investigating the replicability and transferability of the findings employing the Facilitative Interpersonal Skills (FIS) performance task beyond Anglophone countries, a set of Dutch FIS clips have been scripted and recorded. In this study the psychometric properties of the Dutch clips was tested. Furthermore, an additional set of FIS clips portraying a non-challenging client-therapist interaction was tested. 369 psychology students rated the interpersonal impact (IMI-C) and the affect (positive and negative affect schedule) displayed by the hypothetical client. Thirteen out of sixteen FIS clips were located in the same IMI-C quadrant as the US clips, indicating good content validity for all sets of FIS clips. Inter-rater reliability was reasonable for one set of Dutch language FIS clips (k=0.416). Visual inspection of quadrants showed the different character of the non-challenging set of FIS clips. The Dutch FIS clips are directly applicable for educational and research purposes.