[What do Patients Experience between Group Sessions during Inpatient Psychotherapy? An Application of the Inter-Session-Questionnaire in Psychotherapeutic Hospitals]. / Was erleben Patienten in stationärer Psychotherapie zwischen den Gruppentherapie-Sitzungen? Eine Erprobung des Inter-Session-Fragebogens in der Klinik.

The study describes an application of the Inter-Session-Questionnaire (ISF) related to inpatient group psychotherapy. The instrument should be tested with the extension of differentiating intersession experiences related to the person of the therapist as well as the group. In a cross sectional study performed in 13 different hospitals, 702 patients were assessed. These patients were treated in rehab hospitals, acute hospitals as well as special hospitals providing treatment for eating disorders. The sample should be relatively representative for psychosomatic and psychotherapeutic hospitals in Germany. Besides the type of the hospital, we also analysed the influence of group characteristics (size of group, type of group and number of completed sessions) as well as the patients' sex. Surprisingly, there were almost no marked differences of inter-session-experiences related to the the therapist or the group. The profiles of the item judgements of the ISF were similar to those reported for outpatient and day treatment samples. Inter-session-experiences differed in part according to our expectation depending on the variables mentioned above which suggests to use the ISF in specific studies dealing with the process and outcome of inpatient group psychotherapy as well as the differentiation of relevant subgroups.

[Training background, everyday practice, and training needs of group therapists working in inpatient psychotherapy - Results of a survey]. / Ausbildungshintergrund, Alltagspraxis und Weiterbildungsbedarf von Gruppenpsychotherapeuten in der stationären Psychotherapie - Ergebnisse einer Umfrage.

OBJECTIVES: A survey serves to clarify whether psychotherapists working in inpatient and day treatment psychotherapeutic hospitals feel sufficiently trained as group therapists and what their specific training needs are. METHODS: The survey queried 175 therapists from different hospitals and professions who perform group psychotherapy in their hospital. The questionnaire focussed on training experiences, everyday group practice, and training needs. RESULTS: As expected, only some of the therapists had completed training as group therapist. The therapists are faced with a wide variety of group formats and patients in their everyday work and reveal a broad spectrum of training needs. CONCLUSIONS: The survey, although not entirely representative, indicates general and specific needs of group therapists within psychotherapeutic hospitals and underlines the role of training and therapist experience in reducing uneasiness toward group psychotherapy.