Development of a Contextual Family Therapy Therapist Action Index.

Developed a contextual therapist action index (TAI). In Exp 1, 20 contextual family therapists (CFTs) contributed to the development of items that correspond to actions of CFTs as practiced in the field. Exp 2, in which 4 raters used the TAI to assess segments from CFT treatment sessions, reported modest construct validity and moderate degrees of reliability. Exp 3 demonstrated high degrees of discriminate validity in differentiating segments of contextual vs psychoeducational family therapy sessions. The TAI may provide an empirical basis on which to train therapists either to increase or decrease specific behaviors during therapy and aid in the supervision and teaching of family therapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)