Treating Affect Phobias: Therapeutic Alliance as a Moderator of the Emotional Experience Effect on Outcomes

Psychodynamic-oriented psychotherapies have demonstrated their efficacy in emotional disorders’treatment. However, it remains unclear what are the specific mechanisms accounting for change. Inpsychodynamic psychotherapeutic models as the Affect Phobia Therapy (APT), emphasis is placedon therapeutic relationship and the ability of clients to regain adaptive contact with their emotions.Specifically, it is argued that there must be a high therapeutic alliance for the emotions’ exposure tolead to positive outcomes. This exploratory study aimed to examine whether the level of therapeuticalliance (high vs. low) moderates the contribution of emotional experience to outcomes. Twenty-sixclients (65% females; Mage= 25; SD= 7.26) with depressive and/or anxiety symptoms undergoing apsychodynamic psychotherapy on a university counselling centre were included. After each weeklysession, clients answered measures of therapeutic alliance, emotional experience, and outcomes(Psychological Well-Being and Subjective Discomfort). Data were analysed using Hierarchical LinearModels for longitudinal data. Results indicated that effect of emotional experience on outcomesdepends on levels of therapeutic alliance. In clients with low therapeutic alliance, higher levelsof emotional experience contributed to a decrease in Psychological Well-Being and an increasein Subjective Discomfort across sessions. In clients with higher levels of alliance, both outcomesdecreased significantly between sessions, regardless of the emotional experience effect. Our findingshighlight that it is important to consider that exposure to adaptive emotions may have adverse effectswhen a strong alliance is not established (AU)

Parenting Sense of Competence: Psychometrics and Invariance among a Community and an At-Risk Samples of Portuguese Parents.

Parenting sense of competence refers to parents' perception about their ability to perform the parenting role, one of the key dimensions in family dynamics. This construct is even more important in families at psychosocial risk, where the exercise of parenting can be more challenging. The Parenting Sense of Competence scale (PSOC) is a self-report measure that aims to assesses one's perceived efficacy and satisfaction with parenting. In this cross-sectional and instrumental study, we aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the PSOC among a Portuguese sample of community (n = 205) and at-psychological-risk (n = 273) parents. Participants completed the PSOC, the Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale, the Parenting Stress Index, and the Parenting Alliance Inventory. Results from confirmatory factor analysis showed that a two-factor revised model obtained the best fit, with some items being removed. Our data confirmed that the PSOC has good psychometric properties, with acceptable reliability and validity and measurement invariance across the community and the at-risk samples. Findings of this psychometric exploration provided evidence that the PSOC is a reliable measure of easy application and interpretation for assessing the perceived competence of Portuguese parents.

As Escalas de Bem-Estar Infantil (EBI): Características Psicométricas da Versão Portuguesa / Child Well-Being Scales (CWBS): Psychometric Properties of the Portuguese Version

Resumo Em Portugal, existe escassez de instrumentos aferidos para avaliar os programas de proteção da infância. Este estudo analisou as características psicométricas das Escalas de Bem-Estar Infantil (EBI), destinadas à avaliação multidimensional de potenciais situações de maltrato e negligência, em 276 famílias em risco psicossocial. Foram também recolhidas medidas de eficácia, satisfação e sintomatologia parental. A análise fatorial exploratória sugere uma estrutura com três fatores, similar à versão original, com boa consistência interna (α entre 0,82 e 0,86) e bons indicadores de ajustamento (GFI = 0,97, RMSR = 0,06). Relativamente à validade de construto, foram encontradas correlações significativas que correspondiam à expectativa teórica. Os resultados sustentam a aplicabilidade das EBI para a avaliação e tomada de decisão nas medidas de proteção da criança.

Abstract There is a lack of validated instruments to evaluate child protection programs in Portugal. The present study analyzed the psychometric characteristics of the Child Well-Being Scales (CWBS), a multidimensional measure of potential situations of abuse and neglect, in 276 families at psychosocial risk. Measures of parental efficiency, satisfaction and parental symptomatology were also collected. Through exploratory factor analysis, a 3-factor solution, similar to the original version was identified, with high levels of internal consistency (α between 0.82-0.86) and good model fit (GFI = 0.97, RMSR = 0.06). Regarding construct validity, significant correlations were found that were in line with theoretical expectation. Our results support the utility of EBI as a guide to the assessment and decision-making regarding child protection measures.