A CONTRIBUTION TO THE ITALIAN VALIDATION OF THE COMPARATIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY PROCESS SCALE (CPPS)

Our study is a contribution to the Italian validation of the Comparative Psychotherapy Process Scale (CPPS; Blagys & Hilsenroth, 2000, 2005). The CPPS is an instrument able to measure the therapist’s interventions in psychotherapy. The scale include 20 items divided in two subscales: PI (psychodynamic/interpersonal) scale, that describes psychodynamic-interpersonal techniques, and the CB (cognitive/behavioral) scale, that includes cognitive-behavioral interventions. The first aim of the present study is to examine the psychometric properties of the CPPS (Blagys & Hilsenroth, 2000, 2005), comparing the PI and CB subscales with the psychodynamic and cognitive prototypes as described by the Psychotherapy Process Q-set (PQS; Ablon & Jones, 1998, 1999). The second aim is to identify the therapeutic techniques and elements of the psychotherapy process characterizing the sessions with a psychodynamic versus cognitive focus. Sample. The sample consisted of 170 sessions (N= 170) of psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral orientations. Patients covered a large spectrum of disorders in Axis I and II (DSM-IV-TR; APA, 2000). Therapists had a clinical experience of minimum five years. Two groups of independent raters evaluated the sessions. The raters are clinical PhD with excellent reliability in the use of the CPPS (ICC = .78) and PQS (ICC = .83). Measures. Comparative Psychotherapy Process Scale (Blagys & Hilsenroth, 2000, 2005) to evaluate the therapist’s techniques. Psychotherapy Process Q-set (Jones, 1985, 2000) to describe the characteristic elements to discriminate the psychodynamic versus cognitive focus in the treatment sessions. Result. Results seem to confirm that the CPPS is a valid and reliable instrument that allows to evaluate therapist’s techniques in clinically sensitive and psychometrically robust ways. Conclusions. The clinical and research implications of these findings are addressed.