Clinical Psychology Commons^™

Personality Trait Interactions With Narrator Empathy In A Brief Computerized Intervention, Jennifer Danielle Ellis

Wayne State University Theses

Computer-delivered, brief interventions (CDBIs) have been an increasingly popular way to treat substance use disorders; however, very few studies have examined which characteristics of CDBIs maximize intervention effectiveness. The literature has consistently demonstrated that therapist empathy is associated with reduced substance use; however, it is unclear whether this principal applies to CDBIs. Therefore, one aim of this study was to examine whether the presence of an empathic narrator increases motivation to reduce heavy drinking in a CDBI. A second aim was to examine whether an individual’s personality traits (empathy, psychopathy, and Big Five Traits) interact with treatment characteristics (specifically high …