While it is known that client factors account for the largest proportion of outcome variance across treatment modalities, little is known about how clients’ characteristics affect the process and effectiveness of couple therapy. To further knowledge in this area, we created a brief, practice‐friendly measure, the Expectation and Preference Scales for Couple Therapy (EPSCT). Three self‐report scales assess clients’ Outcome expectations (e.g., I expect our relationship to improve as a result of couple therapy) and role expectations for Self (e.g., I expect to listen to my partner's concerns) and Partner (e.g., I expect my partner to blame me). Three Cognitive‐Behavioral, Emotionally Focused, and Family Systems preference scales use a forced‐choice format to measure the comparative strength of respondents’ preferences for interventions broadly reflective of each approach. A large item pool was developed from relevant literature and clinical experience and refined based on face and content analyses with two panels of experienced couple therapists and researchers. Across four studies with 1,175 participants, the scales’ internal consistency reliabilities were similar and their construct validity was supported with confirmatory factor analyses and significant correlations with several established measures, including expectation measures developed for individual psychotherapy and measures of attitudes toward professional help seeking and valuing personal growth. Across all studies, participants had stronger role expectations for themselves than their partners, although gender effects differed by sample. We discuss how to use the 15‐item EPSCT in clinical practice and in future research as a predictor of couple therapy processes and outcomes.

Despite the abundance of servant leadership literature, scholars recognize the need for a more precise conceptualization of the concept. Although the predominant literature emanates from organizational management and industry describing servant leadership as a theory, model, philosophy, or leadership style, less attention has focused on servant leadership in academia, and most notably in nursing. The purpose of this analysis is to clarify the concept of servant leadership and to provide further delineation of this highly relevant, but elusive concept in nursing. Findings of this concept analysis identify a linkage among servant leadership characteristics, caring theories, and the profession of nursing.

An optode for Cu(ii), Cd(ii), Zn(ii) and Hg(ii) sensing has been designed by immobilization of dithizone on a triacetylcellulose membrane (mem-DTZ). The sorption of the metal ions on the mem-DTZ has been thoroughly characterized, in particular sorption kinetics, sorption isotherms and profiles as a function of the pH have been studied. Methods to assess the concentrations of the cations, both individually and in a mixture, in unknown samples, have been developed. In particular, UV-vis spectra and digital information of pictures taken by using a common desktop scanner, of the mem-DTZ sensor after equilibration with different solutions, were acquired and they were correlated with the concentration of the metal ions in solutions. For the single analyte determination, the RGB parameters of the pictures were subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA); otherwise the UV-vis spectra of a mixture of two cations were elaborated by Partial Least Squares (PLS) Regression. The membrane responds to the divalent cations by changing colour reversibly. The response time of the mem-DTZ is about 1 h for Cd(ii), Hg(ii) and Zn(ii), but longer for Cu(ii): more than 10 h are required. The linear interval is in the range of about 10 to 10 M for all metal ions. The limit of detection (LOD) is around 10 M for Cu(ii), Cd(ii) and Hg(ii); for Zn(ii) a lower LOD of 10 M is obtained. The applicability of mem-DTZ to real samples has been proved by analysis of the four metal cations in a certificate material (Sewage Sludge CC136A), white wine, and drinking water samples.

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