This study examined the preliminary results of an integrative, video-assisted training workshop aimed at helping psychotherapists build strong therapeutic relationships with their clients. Participants were 57 clinicians across five community mental health clinics, who were randomly assigned to the brief alliance-training workshop (in which they participated prior to starting treatment with a new client) or to a delayed-training control condition. Outcomes assessed included therapist-reported use of alliance strategies during Session 1, therapist-rated alliance quality after Session 1, and client engagement across the first 4 weeks. In contrast to hypotheses, one-way analyses of variance and chi-square analyses revealed no statistically significant differences between the training and the delayed-training conditions. However, the therapist-reported impact of using the workshop's alliance strategies was positively correlated with therapist-rated alliance quality (r = .30, p = .03) and marginally correlated with number of sessions attended (r = .25, p = .06) across the two conditions. The findings hold promise for the utility of a brief alliance-focused workshop, and for collaborations between researchers and clinicians seeking to bridge science and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved).
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