Rule emissionA possible variable for improved therapeutic practice

  1. Ivette Vargas-de la Cruz 1
  2. Rebeca Pardo-Cebrián 2
  3. Héctor Martínez Sánchez 1
  4. María Xesús Froján-Parga 2
  1. 1 Universidad de Guadalajara
    info

    Universidad de Guadalajara

    Guadalajara, México

    ROR https://ror.org/043xj7k26

  2. 2 Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
    info

    Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

    Madrid, España

    ROR https://ror.org/01cby8j38

Revista:
The Spanish Journal of Psychology

ISSN: 1138-7416

Año de publicación: 2018

Número: 21

Páginas: 1-14

Tipo: Artículo

DOI: 10.1017/SJP.2018.42 DIALNET GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso abierto editor

Otras publicaciones en: The Spanish Journal of Psychology

Resumen

It has been suggested that achieving greater effectiveness in psychotherapeutic treatment requires analyzing what therapists actually do and say, how they do this and when it is done. Based on this approach, in this study we focused on the rules emitted by therapists, since providing rules is thought to be of fundamental importance in promoting effective and efficient clinical change. Specifically, we sought to determine whether the experience level of therapists and the brevity of therapy would be related to patterns of therapist rule emission as categorized by the Category System of Rules emitted by the Therapist (SISC-RULES-T) (Vargas-de la Cruz & Pardo-Cebrián, 2014). Greater therapist experience and shorter therapy duration were found to be reliably predictive of more rule emissions across most rule categories (Z values between: Z = –3.68 and Z = –2.05; p values: p < .05 and p < .001). These variables were also predictive of more emissions of rules that specified all three operant contingency elements (situation, behavior, and consequence) rather than fewer elements (Z = –2.59, p < .05; Z = –2.26, p < .05). In the expert therapists and therapist with shorter cases, there was a nonsignificant tendency for the emission of general and conceptual rules to increase over sessions whereas emissions of concrete and particular rules tended to decrease; the explicitness of the three contingency elements also tended to decrease as treatment progressed. These findings may help to identify verbal characteristics of therapists that could lead to improved therapeutic practice.

Referencias bibliográficas

  • Abreu P. R., Costa Hübner M. M., & Lucchese F. (2012). The role of shaping the client’s interpretations in functional analytic psychotherapy. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 28, 151–157. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03393117
  • Bados-López A., García-Grau E., & Fusté-Escolano A. (2002). Eficacia y utilidad clínica de la terapia psicológica [Efficacy and clinical utility of psychological therapy]. International Journal of Clinical and Health Psychology, 2(3), 477–502.
  • Bakeman R. (2000). Behavioral observation and coding. In H. T. Reis & C. M. Judd (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in social and personality psychology (pp. 138–159). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
  • Bakeman R., Quera V., McArthur D., & Robinson B. F. (1997). Detecting sequential patterns and determining their reliability with fallible observers. Psychological Methods, 2, 357–370. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.2.4.357
  • Baldwin S. A., & Imel Z. E. (2013). Therapist effects: Findings and methods. Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change, 6, 258–297.
  • Benedick H., & Dixon M. R. (2009). Instructional control of self-control in adults with co-morbid developmental disabilities and mental illness. Journal of Developmental and Physical Disabilities, 21, 457–471. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10882-009-9166-4
  • Cuper P., Merwin R., & Lynch T. (2007). Personality disorders. In P. Sturmey (Ed.), Functional analysis in clinical treatment (pp. 403–428). San Diego, CA, US: Elsevier Academic Press.
  • Echeburúa E., & Corral P. (2001). Eficacia de las terapias psicológicas: De la investigación a la práctica clínica [Efficacy of psychological therapies: From research to clinical practice]. Revista Internacional de Psicología Clínica y de la Salud, 1, 181–204.
  • Froján Parga M. X., Pardo Cebrián R., Vargas de la Cruz I., & Linares Carmona F. (2011). Análisis de las reglas en el contexto clínico [Analysis of the rules in the clinical context]. EduPsykhé, 10(1), 135–154.
  • Froján-Parga M. X., Ruiz-Sancho E. M., Montaño-Fidalgo M., Calero-Elvira A., & Alpañés-Freitag M. (2011). Estudio comparativo de la conducta verbal del terapeuta según su experiencia durante la evaluación clínica [Comparative study of the verbal behavior of the therapist according to his experience during the clinical evaluation]. Anales de Psicología, 27(2), 311–318.
  • Guinther P. M., & Dougher M. J. (2013). From behavioral research to clinical therapy. In J. G. Madden, W. V. Dube, T. D. Hackenberg, G. P. Hanley, & K. A. Lattal (Eds.), APA handbook of behavior analysis, Vol. 2: Translating principles into practice (pp. 3–32). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. https://doi. org/10.1037/13938-001
  • Hayes S. C., Blackledge J. T. & Barnes-Holmes D. (2001). Language and cognition: Constructing an alternative approach within the behavioral tradition. In S. C. Hayes, D. Barnes-Holmes, & B. Roche (Eds.), Relational frame theory: A post-Skinnerian account of human language and cognition. (pp. 3–20). Nueva York, NY: Kluwer Academic/ Plenum Publishers.
  • Hayes S. F., Zettle D. R., & Rosenfarb I. (1989). Rule-following. In S. F. Hayes (Ed.), Rule governed behavior: Cognition, contingencies and instructional control (pp. 191–220). Nueva York, NY: Plenum Press.
  • Hung L. (2006). The use of verbal response tokens in psychotherapy. Dissertation Abstracts International: Section B. The Sciences and Engineering, 66(9–B), 5090.
  • Kanter J. W., Cautilli J. D., Busch A. M., & Baruch D. E. (2011). Toward a comprehensive functional analysis of depressive behavior: Five environmental factors and possible sixth and seventh. The Behavior Analyst Today, 6(1), 65–81. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0100055
  • Kensche M., & Schweiger U. (2015). Relational Frame Theory A theoretical framework for contextual behavioral science. Psychotherapie, Psychosomatik, Medicinische Psychologie, 65(7), 273–284. https://doi. org/10.1055/s-0034-1399897
  • Labrador F. J., De Quirós M. B., & Estupiñá F. J. (2011). ¿Por qué se alargan los tratamientos psicológicos? Predictores de una mayor duración del tratamiento y diferencias entre los casos de corta y larga duración [Why are psychological treatments lengthened? Predictors of longer treatment duration and differences between short and long term cases]. Psicothema, 23(4), 573–579.
  • Labrador F. J., Echeburúa E., & Becoña E. (2000). Guía para la elección de tratamientos psicológicos efectivos: Hacia una nueva psicología [Guide for the choice of effective psychological treatments: Towards a new Psychology]. Madrid, Spain: Dykinson, S.L.
  • López C. A., Muñoz A., & Ballesteros B. P. (2005). Cambio del contexto social-verbal desde la teoría de marcos relacionales en mujeres en riesgo de problemas alimentarios [Changing social-verbal context from Relational Frame Theory in women at risk for eating problems]. Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, 37, 359–378.
  • Martínez H., & Tamayo R. (2005). Interactions of contingencies, instructional accuracy, and instructional history in conditional discrimination. The Psychological Record, 55, 633–646. https://doi.org/10.1007/ BF03395531
  • Merwin R. M., Timko C. A., Moskovich A. A., Ingle K. K., Bulik C. M., & Zucker N. L. (2010). Psychological inflexibility and symptom expression in anorexia nervosa. Eating disorders: The Journal of Treatment & Prevention, 19, 62–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/10640266. 2011.533606
  • Orlinsky D., Ronnestad M. H., Ambühl H., Willutzki U., Botersman J., Cierpka M., et al (1999). Psychotherapists’ assessments of their development at different career levels. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training, 36, 203–215.
  • Palmer D. C. (2012). The role of atomic repertoires in complex behavior. The Behavior Analyst, 35, 59–73. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03392266
  • Plaud J. J., & Plaud D. M. (1998). Clinical behavior therapy and the experimental analysis of behavior. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 54, 905–921. https://doi.org/10.1002/ (SICI)1097-4679(199811)54:7<905::AID-JCLP5>3.0.CO;2-D
  • Poppen R. L. (1989). Some clinical implications of rulegoverned behavior. In S. C. Hayes (Ed.), Rule-governed behavior. Cognition, contingencies and instructional control (pp. 325–357). New York, NY: Plenum Press.
  • Ribes Iñesta E. (1990). Psicología y salud: Un análisis conceptual [Psychology and health: A conceptual analysis]. Distrito Federal, México: Trillas.
  • Schlinger H. D. (1990). A reply to behavior analysts writing about rules and rule-governed behavior. The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, 8, 77–82. https://doi.org/10.1007/ BF03392849
  • Skinner B. F. (1966). An operant analysis of problem solving. In B. Kleinmuntz (Ed.), Problem solving: Research, method and theory (pp. 225–257). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
  • Skinner B. F. (1981). Conducta verbal [Verbal behavior]. Distrito Federal, México: Trillas.
  • Schöttke H., Flückiger C., Goldberg S. B., Eversmann J., & Lange J. (2017). Predicting psychotherapy outcome based on therapist interpersonal skills: A five-year longitudinal study of a therapist assessment protocol. Psychotherapy Research, 27(6), 642–652. https://doi.org/10.1080/10503307. 2015.1125546
  • Stangier U. (2015). Psychotherapeutische kompetenzen in der kognitiven verhaltenstherapie [Psychotherapist competencies in cognitive behavioral therapy]. Psychotherapeut, 60, 193–198. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s00278-015-0022-y
  • Sturmey P., Ward-Horner J., Marroquin M., & Doran E. (2007). Advanced concepts and methods of intervention in behavioral approaches to psychopathology. In P. Sturmey (Ed.), Functional analysis in clinical treatment (pp. 51–64). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
  • Törneke N., Luciano C., & Valdivia S. (2008). Rule-governed behavior and psychological problems. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 8, 141–156.
  • Turner S. M., Beidel D. C., Spaulding S. A., & Brown J. (1995). The practice of behavior therapy: A national survey of cost and methods. The Behavior Therapist, 18, 1–4.
  • Vargas-de la Cruz I., & Pardo Cebrian R. (2014). El papel de la experiencia del cliente en la aplicación de reglas en el contexto clínico [The role of client experience in the application of rules in the clinical context]. Conductual, 2(3), 36–51.
  • Zettle R. D., & Hayes S. C. (1983). Effect of social context on the impact of coping selfstatements. Psychological Reports, 52, 391–401. https://doi.org/10.2466/ pr0.1983.52.2.391
Fuente de los datos: Dialnet