Daily Events for Clinical Couples: Examining Therapy Interventions, Positive Events, Arguments, and Exercise in the Beginning Stage of Therapy.

This study examined the daily association of several events within the beginning phase of couple therapy. Events examined were as follows: trying something from therapy, an argument, a positive event, and physical exercise. Participants were 33 couples in a treatment-as-usual setting who completed the Daily Diary of Events in Couple Therapy (DDECT). A dyadic multilevel model was used to explore the daily associations between predictor and outcome variables. Results showed when male partners tried something from therapy at rates greater than the average their female partners reported a more positive relationship while when female partners tried something from therapy at rates greater than the average it contributed to a more negative relationship. In addition, results showed that clients in couple therapy rarely try things from therapy on a daily basis. Finally, relative to other predictors trying something from therapy had a smaller, but significant relationship with outcomes.

Examining Attachment Avoidance and Attachment Anxiety Across Eight Sessions of Couple Therapy.

This study examined initial levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance, as well as their patterns of change, across eight sessions of couple therapy. Participants were 461 couples in a treatment-as-usual setting. Dyadic latent growth modeling was used to determine whether couples started therapy at similar levels of attachment anxiety and avoidance and whether attachment anxiety and avoidance changed. An actor partner interdependence model was used to see whether partner attachment anxiety was related to avoidance. Results showed relative stability of attachment anxiety and avoidance over the course of therapy, with the only change being a slight decline in attachment anxiety among women. Results showed that a person's attachment anxiety was not related to their partner's avoidance and vice versa.

Testing the Clinical Implications of Planned Missing Data Designs.

Assessment is a core element of evidence-based practice, but thorough formal assessment can place a significant burden on clients. We evaluated the clinical viability of using planned missing data designs to reduce client burden. Data come from an archival dataset with 1342 participants. Although significant differences were found in scores with planned missing data versus real scores, the effect sizes for the differences were generally small. Scores with missing data had sensitivity and specificity scores generally above .90 when predicting real scores over clinical cutoffs and improvement in real scores. These findings offer useful information to agencies and researchers looking for ways to collect more data without losing its immediate clinical utility.

A Video Recall Study of In-session Changes in Sentiment Override.

This study examines in-session changes in sentiment override over the first three sessions of couple therapy. Couples viewed a video recording of therapy sessions immediately after each of the first three sessions and continuously rated their level of sentiment override. Ninety-eight changes were randomly chosen for analysis. Three talk turns prior to each change was coded using the Family Relational Communication Control Coding System. Results show that changes in sentiment override occur frequently. Repeated incidents of communication control were related to negative change in sentiment override for females. Repeated incidents of being left out of the conversation were related to negative changes in sentiment override for females and positive changes for males.

The development of a reliable change index and cutoff for the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale.

The Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS; Busby, Crane, Larson, & Christensen, 1995) is a measure of couple relationship adjustment that is often used to differentiate between distressed and non-distressed couples. While the measure currently allows for a determination of whether group mean scores change significantly across administrations, it lacks the ability to determine whether an individual's change in dyadic adjustment is clinically significant. This study addresses this limitation by establishing a cutoff of 47.31 and reliable change index of 11.58 for the RDAS by pooling data across multiple community and clinical samples. An individual whose score on the RDAS moves across the cutoff changes by 12 or more points can be classified as experiencing clinically significant change.