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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Dropout In Couple Therapy: An Exploration Of The Trajectories Of Couples Dropping Out, Ragan A. Lybbert
Dropout In Couple Therapy: An Exploration Of The Trajectories Of Couples Dropping Out, Ragan A. Lybbert
Theses and Dissertations
Dropout is a problematic phenomenon which wastes community, clinician, client, and researcher resources. Clients who dropout from therapy end up the same, or worse than, those who did not seek out therapy at all. While there is a relatively deep and broad understanding of dropout from individual therapy, an exhaustive review of couple therapy dropout literature reveals a very inconsistent and non-conclusive body of research. This may stem from a lack of a consistently used theory to guide research endeavors in this important realm. Primarily, this seems to stem from treating dropout as a static event rather than a process …
Physical Health As A Predictor Of Change In Self-Reported Presenting Problems In Couple Therapy, As Mediated By Emotional Regulation, Janette J. Driscoll
Physical Health As A Predictor Of Change In Self-Reported Presenting Problems In Couple Therapy, As Mediated By Emotional Regulation, Janette J. Driscoll
Theses and Dissertations
Recent literature in couple therapy has demonstrated the effects of physical health on some common presenting problems; however, few studies have considered progress as a construct on its own, irrespective of client-identified presenting problem. The current study used an Actor-Partner Interdependence Mediated Model to determine the connection between each partner's physical health and their own and their partner's self-reported progress in couple therapy, mediated by each partner's emotional regulation. Physical health was measured every four sessions using the Health-Related Quality of Life scale, and progress was measured by the Presenting Problem Progress Questionnaire given each time a couple attended therapy. …
Empathic Listening Processes In Couple Therapy: A Task Analysis Of Effective Interventions By Therapists In Training, Samuel Ryland
Empathic Listening Processes In Couple Therapy: A Task Analysis Of Effective Interventions By Therapists In Training, Samuel Ryland
Theses and Dissertations
Listening is a fundamental and deceptively complicated component of talk therapy that has received very little specific research attention. The work of Carl Rogers and others promotes the importance of empathic listening to create safety and process client experiences, and several models identify its importance in processing and regulating client emotions (especially in couple therapy, where empathic listening can disrupt rigid conflict cycles and model coregulation skills). Much of the dysregulation and resistance we see in therapy may be related to a perceived lack of safety caused by persistent conflict or previous trauma, explained by the unconscious processes of the …
Childhood Trauma And Attachment Theory: Estimating A Growth Curve Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And The Therapeutic Alliance, Connor C. Barham
Childhood Trauma And Attachment Theory: Estimating A Growth Curve Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences And The Therapeutic Alliance, Connor C. Barham
Theses and Dissertations
The therapeutic alliance is a core element of successful treatment in therapy. Recent literature has explored variables that predict the alliance at various time points during therapy, but few studies have explored how the alliance develops over time and the factors that influence its rate of change. The current study addresses these questions by estimating latent growth-curve models to analyze how male and female partners' alliance scores develop over time and how adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) impact the development of the alliance during the first six sessions of therapy. Results from these analyses show that neither men nor women's ACEs …
Therapist Effects On Dropout In Couple Therapy, Kwin L. Willis
Therapist Effects On Dropout In Couple Therapy, Kwin L. Willis
Theses and Dissertations
Despite the strong efficacy of couple therapy, many couples still do not benefit from treatment. Marriage and family therapy scholars have argued that therapists play a crucial role in the delivery of successful couple therapy, yet little research has documented that the therapist in couple therapy has a significant impact on outcomes. Known as the study of therapist effects, this study sought to assess the amount of variance attributed to the therapist in couple therapy outcomes. Using dropout as the outcome variable, this study analyzed data from 1192 couples treated by 90 therapists at a university-based training clinic. Results from …
Treatment Of Infidelity As A Clinical Issue In Couple Therapy: A Critical Review Of The Literature, Wilhelmina Emma Stamps
Treatment Of Infidelity As A Clinical Issue In Couple Therapy: A Critical Review Of The Literature, Wilhelmina Emma Stamps
Theses and Dissertations
Infidelity is perhaps the most challenging issue confronting couple therapists and has a high prevalence amongst couples in both clinical and community settings. Despite significant expansion of this field of research in recent years, there has not been a comprehensive review of the literature since 2005. Without such a review, it is problematic for clinicians and researchers to determine best practices and areas needing further inquiry. This article builds on the two most recent reviews (Allen et al., 2005; Blow & Hartnett, 2005) and provides a systematic critical review of the literature on infidelity published in the last 15 years. …
Sleep, Stress, And Sweat: Implications For Client Physiology Prior To Couple Therapy, Christina Michelle Rosa
Sleep, Stress, And Sweat: Implications For Client Physiology Prior To Couple Therapy, Christina Michelle Rosa
Theses and Dissertations
Physiological state greatly influences one’s ability to emotionally regulate and connect to a partner in couple therapy. As individuals encounter real or perceived threats in relationships, they are likely to experience sympathetic nervous system (SNS) responses of fight, flight, or freeze, thereby inhibiting the ability to connect with a partner or therapist made possible by the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS). This study, guided by the Polyvagal theory, examines the influence of client sleep, daily stress, and exercise on physiological baseline prior to a couple therapy session. Participants included 23 married couples who attended couple therapy at the Brigham Young University …
Coding Rupture Indicators In Couple Therapy (Crict): An Observational Coding Scheme, Annalisa Ward Carr
Coding Rupture Indicators In Couple Therapy (Crict): An Observational Coding Scheme, Annalisa Ward Carr
Theses and Dissertations
The therapeutic alliance, a construct representing agreement and collaboration on therapy goals, therapy tasks, and the emotional bond between client(s) and therapist, is a robust predictor of therapy outcomes in individual, couple, and family therapy. One way to track the therapeutic alliance is through ruptures and repairs. Ruptures are breaks, tensions, or tears in the therapeutic alliance. Ruptures and repairs influence the therapeutic alliance and consequently therapeutic outcomes. Currently, there is a lack of research addressing ruptures and repairs in couple therapy. The first step in researching alliance ruptures is to have a reliable way to assess alliance ruptures. This …
Effects Of Exercise On Clinical Couple Interactions, Samantha Karma-Jean Simpson
Effects Of Exercise On Clinical Couple Interactions, Samantha Karma-Jean Simpson
Theses and Dissertations
Research has shown that exercise has the potential to improve couple relationships. This study contributes to current literature by examining the associations between exercise, its duration, and its intensity and daily clinical couple interactions. Participants were 22 married couples in a treatment-as-usual setting who completed daily diaries about daily behaviors and marital interactions. Multilevel models were run, and results showed that wives who exercised were more likely to report a negative interaction with their husband that day. When wives exercised longer, both they and their husbands were more likely to report positive interactions that day. Interestingly, if husbands exercised longer …
The Effect Of Common Factor Therapist Behaviors On Change In Marital Satisfaction, Li Ping Su
The Effect Of Common Factor Therapist Behaviors On Change In Marital Satisfaction, Li Ping Su
Theses and Dissertations
Couple therapy has been proven to be successful in treating marital distress and mental health problems; however, not everyone benefits from couple therapy. Although research suggests that some couple therapists are more effective than others, little research has explored the in-session behaviors of effective couple therapists. The purpose of this study was to code the therapist behaviors of therapist warmth, empathy, validation, presence, collaboration, systemically-based techniques, and session structure in the first session of 17 Emotionally Focused Therapy cases of couple therapy to examine their ability to predict pre-therapy to post-therapy change in male and female marital satisfaction. The seven …
A Dyadic Analysis Of Couple Attachment Behaviors As Predictors Of Dietary Habits And Physical Activity Levels, Stephanie Young
A Dyadic Analysis Of Couple Attachment Behaviors As Predictors Of Dietary Habits And Physical Activity Levels, Stephanie Young
Theses and Dissertations
While there is substantial evidence that marriage impacts health, no studies have explicitly analyzed the association between attachment behaviors and health practices. This study examines the relationship between couples' attachment behaviors and health practices, as measured by physical activity levels and dietary habits. Couple data was analyzed from the RELATE database (n= 4,957 couples). An Actor Partner Interdependence Model, using a multinomial logistic regression, was used to examine the relationships between attachment behaviors and health practices, as measured by activity level and dietary habits. Results for actor paths indicate that wives' own attachment behaviors significantly influence their own health practices. …
Attachment Behaviors As Mediators Between Family-Of-Origin Quality And Couple Communication Quality In Marriage: Implications For Couples Therapy, Darin Justin Knapp
Attachment Behaviors As Mediators Between Family-Of-Origin Quality And Couple Communication Quality In Marriage: Implications For Couples Therapy, Darin Justin Knapp
Theses and Dissertations
This study examined the mediating impact of couples' attachment behaviors on the relationship between poor quality family-of-origin experiences and marital communication quality. The couple data for this study was collected from the Relationship Evaluation (RELATE) database (see www.relate-institute.org). An Actor Partner Interdependence Model using structural equation modeling was used to evaluate 261 marriage relationships. Results indicated that the relationships between family-of-origin experiences and communication quality are significantly related, with more family-of-origin problems associated with poorer positive communication skills. When attachment behaviors (accessibility, responsiveness, and engagement) were added to the model, it significantly mediated the relationship. Implications for clinicians treating couples …
Enactments, Outcome, And Marital Therapy: A Pilot Study, Carianne Mitchell
Enactments, Outcome, And Marital Therapy: A Pilot Study, Carianne Mitchell
Theses and Dissertations
Unfulfilled attachment related needs and wants are viewed by many therapists as the heart of couple distress (Johnson & Whiffen, 2003; Johnson, 2004). As a result, efforts to discover and utilize therapeutic processes that encourage couples to identify and appropriately respond to their partner's core attachment needs and wants continue to increase. This study served as a pilot study for a planned, larger-scale investigation examining enactments as a potential best-practice change mechanism to strengthen secure attachment in marital therapy. Twelve couples were randomly assigned to one of two possible experimental groups. Group 1 experienced three therapist-centered therapy sessions, followed by …