The purpose of this study was to revise the Hill et al. (1981) Client Verbal Response Category System. The client behavior system (CBS), which includes 8 nominal, mutually exclusive categories, was created. Psychologists indicated that clients generally are more productively involved when engaged in cognitive-behavioral exploration, affective exploration, insight, and changes than in resistance, agreement, requests, and recounting. When the CBS was used to rate predominant client behavior in middle sessions of 8 cases of brief individual therapy, adequate interjudge agreement was found, with cognitive-behavioral exploration occurring most frequently. Client experiencing and client ratings of helpfulness differed across CBS categories, suggesting concurrent validity for the measure. In a second study, 9 interviewer queries elicited different interviewee behaviors in 39 structured interviews, providing evidence of construct validity.Lenore W. Harmon served as the action editor on this article.

We thank Joan Jeranek and Cindy Schaffer for coding the data and Robert Elliott for his comments as a discussant on the article. We also acknowledge that the suggestion to study the effects of mood on process judgments came from Changming Duan,

To understand the interaction between counselors and clients, researchers need measures of client behavior. A measure of client behavior can aid in describing and evaluating client behavior, ascertaining the ways in which clients respond to counselor interventions, and assessing the ways in which clients change over the course of treatment.In considering the importance of client behavior in counseling and therapy, it is puzzling that a single measure or even a single type of measure has not emerged as the standard in the field. In measuring counselor behavior, in contrast, response modes have been widely accepted as a standard type of measure, with several different versions created by different researchers (cf. Elliott et al., 1987). In contrast, several different types of measures of client behavior, most of which were developed from single theoretical perspectives (e.g., client experiencing: Klein,

This study used structural equation modeling to test the hypothesized model that the effects of early trauma are buffered by early resources and that these variables, in turn, affect psychological damage and subsequent adjustment. In addition, the utility of the Narcissistic Injury Scale (NIS; S. L. Slyter, 1991), an operationalization of A. Miller's (1981) construct of narcissistic injury, was assessed. Students (n = 250) completed questionnaires measuring past trauma, early resources, psychological damage, and adaptation to college. Results supported the reliability and validity of the NIS. Structural equation analyses resulted in a final model with a very good overall fit. The path linking early trauma to psychological damage and then subsequent adjustment accounted for the most variance. The hypothesized buffering effects of early resources were not supported. Counseling and research applications are discussed.

One of the continuing issues in process research has concerned the impact that the methods and measures used have on the data collected and the conclusions drawn (see Hill, 1991, andLambert & Hill, 1994, for reviews). For example, an ongoing concern has been that data collection may be unduly intrusive and may alter the quality or nature of the therapeutic interaction. Other concerns have been expressed about the reliability and validity of process measures and the effects of situational variables on data. Because the results of any study are only as good as the quality of the data generated, researchers need to have evidence that supports the efficacy of their methods and measures.In this study, we focused on several issues that may influence the results of process studies: (a) the validity of videotape-assisted reviews as a means of studying process, in terms of whether ratings made during videotape-assisted reviews reflect experiences during sessions and whether videotape-assisted reviews influence mood and evaluations of session quality; (b) the stability and validity of helpfulness ratings; (c) the stability of therapist intentions and client reactions; and (d) the effects of client and therapist mood on postsession judgments. Validity of Videotape-Assisted ReviewsAn increasing number of studies involve videotape-assisted reviews to collect data from therapists and clients about their experiences during therapy sessions (e.g.,