Validation of the intersession alliance measure: Individual, couple, and family versions.

Monitoring the therapeutic alliance throughout treatment can improve client outcomes and lead to improved care. The individual, couple, and family versions of the intersession alliance measure (IAM) were developed to facilitate routine monitoring of the expanded therapeutic alliance. Psychometric properties of the three versions of the IAM were examined using a clinical sample. Participants were drawn from clinics in the United States participating in the Marriage and Family Therapy Practice Research Network. Using this sample, results indicate that items on each version of the IAM load on one factor, are invariant across sex, and that each version has good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity. The IAM-C and IAM-F also have good predictive validity, while the IAM-I has more limited evidence for its predictive validity. These results suggest that the IAMs are valid and reliable measures that can facilitate the routine monitoring of the expanded therapeutic alliance in psychotherapy.

Lost in translation: Therapeutic Alliance as a mediator in the relationship between teletherapy and marital satisfaction.

The global impact of the SARS-COV-2 pandemic necessitated a rapid shift to online/teletherapy psychotherapy services. While research suggests the feasibility and efficacy of teletherapy, there is limited investigation into couple teletherapy's impact on satisfaction and therapeutic alliance. This study aimed to address this gap by examining changes in couple satisfaction during tele- and in-person therapy sessions over 12 sessions and exploring whether therapeutic alliance development mediates these changes. Using growth curve modeling in a sample of 416 couples, it found that teletherapy participants initially reported higher couple satisfaction, but improvement in this domain was slower than in-person therapy recipients. The development of the therapeutic alliance mediated this effect via two indirect paths. Implications include the need for focused attention on alliance development in teletherapy and more empirically-informed approaches in couple teletherapy.

The trajectory of anxiety in therapy: The role of ACEs.

The connection between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and anxiety disorders is well-documented. Additionally, therapy has been shown to be effective at reducing anxiety symptoms. Yet more needs to be known about how ACEs may shape the process of therapy and the trajectory of anxiety symptoms. This study was designed to compare the trajectory of improvement in anxiety symptoms over the course of 12 sessions of therapy in adults (N = 472), who reported more (greater than four) and fewer (fewer than four) ACEs using a multigroup latent growth curve analysis. Data were drawn from the Marriage and Family Therapy Practice Research Network database. Results suggested that the rate of improvement in those with more and fewer ACEs was not significantly different; however, those with more ACEs had a significantly higher average starting point of anxiety symptoms.

Sense of community and anxiety during a global pandemic: The role of world assumptions in couples.

The current study was designed to examine the role of sense of community at the outset of COVID-19 pandemic-related shutdowns as a longitudinal predictor of anxiety in couples. We also sought to investigate whether self-reported changes in perceived levels of benevolent world assumptions would serve as an indirect conveyor of this association. Data were collected at three time points during the first 6-months of pandemic shutdowns in the US and the current study utilized responses from 535 heterosexual cisgender couples. Mplus was used to path model lagged associations between sense of community at wave 1, world assumptions at waves 1 and 2 and anxiety symptoms at all three waves for both partners. Findings demonstrated direct effects within men and women with a stronger sense of community at wave 1 relating to lower anxiety at waves 2, and within women this effect extended to wave 3. Further, we found that a higher sense of community at wave 1 in men associated with perceived strengthening of benevolent world assumptions at the next wave for men and women. We noted that perceived strengthened benevolent world assumptions at wave 2 associated with lower anxiety at wave 3 within men. Indirect effects showed that a stronger sense of community at wave 1 associated with lower anxiety at wave 3 within men.

Online Conversations About Abuse: Responses to IPV Survivors from Support Communities.

Purpose: Intimate partner violence (IPV) impacts the lives of millions, damaging survivors and families. Many survivors are unsure how to get help, and have limited access to resources. In recent years, those affected by IPV have turned online for answers, support, and to share their experiences. This study examined the online dialogue between survivors of violence and those who respond to their posts. Method: Data consisted of 451 responses to IPV survivors on the website Reddit in a domestic violence subgroup. Responses were analyzed using a combination of grounded theory coding techniques with content analysis tools to generate categories and subcategories. Results: Three main categories emerged from the data, including support, sharing experiences, and sharing information. The subcategories included specific types of help, advice, understanding, and were overwhelmingly positive in their tone and content. Conclusions: Findings suggest that online forums may help bridge the gap between survivors and resources. Professionals who work with IPV or create policies can use these findings to understand how to help survivors find support. This may include encouraging survivors to connect with informal supports such as family and friends, or access formal support such as hotlines, therapy, or legal counsel. The findings also suggest that more research is needed to understand what types of questions survivors of violence have, and what outcomes result from online support.

The Loss in Connection with Catastrophes (LICCS) Scale: Understanding couple outcomes.

This study presented the design of the Loss in Connection with Catastrophes Scale (LICCS). Information regarding reliability and validity were presented, alongside the potential uses of this instrument in research and clinical settings. Furthermore, the importance of attending to couple and family relationships in disaster studies was proposed, and preliminary dyadic findings examining the LICCS with a sample of heterosexual couples (N = 240) as a correlate of mental and relational well-being were set forth. The overall findings suggest (a) resource loss as well as indicators of mental and relational well-being were associated among couples and (b) greater resource loss was associated with greater distress within and between partners. This study was important in that it is one of only a few in the past two decades to utilize dyadic data in the study of couples and disasters. Directions for future study using the LICCS to understand loss processes were addressed.

War and disaster in Sri Lanka: Implications for widows' family adjustment and perception of self-efficacy in caring for one's family.

The data for this study were collected in 2014 from widows in Eastern Sri Lanka whose spouses died in the civil war, tsunami, or from health-related problems. Conservation of resources (COR) theory was used as a lens to examine the extent to which war and tsunami-related damages and family problems predict variation in social support, family adjustment and a perception of self-efficacy in caring for one's family as reported by widowed women. We also investigated whether social support from the community and social support from family and friends mediated those relationships. Results of a path model fit to the data suggested variation in family adjustment to be negatively predicted by war-related family problems and positively predicted by the social support of friends and family. Additionally, a sense of self-efficacy in caring for one's family was found to be inversely predicted by war-related family problems and tsunami damages. Clinical, social and theoretical implications are discussed as well as directions for further research.

Toward understanding posttraumatic stress and depression among trauma-affected widows in Sri Lanka.

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we applied conservation of resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989) to explain high rates of depression and posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) among war- and disaster-affected Tamil widows in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. We hypothesized exposure to potentially traumatic events and severity of current contextual problems would influence PTSS and depressive symptoms directly and indirectly through loss of psychological (view of self), environmental (sense of community), and energy (physical health) resources. METHOD: Trained research assistants interviewed a convenience sample (N = 381) of women, using established measures of the constructs of interest. Data were analyzed using path analysis in MPlus. The significance of the indirect effects was tested using bootstrapping. RESULTS: The model had an acceptable fit (χ2 = 4.06, df = 1, p < .05; Log Likelihood = -3344.26*; AIC = 6760.59; BIC = 6894.64; RMSEA = 0.09; CFI = .99; TLI = .91; SRMR = .02) and explained approximately 38% of the variance in both PTSS and depression. Contextual problems were significantly associated with PTSS and depression both directly and indirectly through deleterious effects on view of self, health status, and sense of community. Degree of trauma exposure was directly associated with indicators of distress. CONCLUSION: Results support the utility of COR theory in this context and hold implications for research and program development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).