Psychotherapy Credibility Ratings: Patient Predictors of Credibility and the Relation of Credibility to Therapy Outcome

摘要

Very little is known about what factors may influence credibility ratings. The current investigation examined the relation between credibility ratings for adult psychotherapies and a variety of patient factors as well as the relation between credibility ratings and subsequent symptom change. A pooled study database that included studies evaluating the efficacy of cognitive and psychodynamic therapies for a variety of disorders was used. For all studies, a 3-item credibility scale was administered at session 2. Early symptom change, expectation of improvement, demographic characteristics, clinical measures, and functioning and interpersonal measures were used to predict credibility at session 2. We found that early symptom improvement was significantly associated with higher credibility ratings at session 2; higher ages, higher levels of education, and lower expectations of improvement were associated with lower credibility ratings at session 2; and credibility ratings predicted subsequent symptom improvement.