A pilot study of the Italian adaptation of the Session Evaluation Questionnaire fourth version

Abstract

The Session Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ) measures the impact of counselling and psychotherapy sessions; it may be conceived as a bridge between psychotherapy process and outcome. Even if the original American SEQ has been translated into many languages, only a few translations have been validated. This is a pilot study that attempted to replicate the five-dimensional structure of the fourth version of the Anglo-American SEQ, for the Italian population. The SEQ is a self-report tool asking patients about their experience with the clinical session just ended; it consists of 27 adjectives in semantic differential scale, divided into three thematic parts: evaluation of the session itself, feelings after the session, and evaluation of the therapist. Data were collected on 111 outpatients attending the Dynamic Psychological Service for University Students, after their first two clinical interviews. Exploratory factor analyses were performed on each of the three parts of the SEQ. Results confirmed the original factorial structure, for Depth, Smoothness, Positivity and Arousal dimensions; Good Therapist dimension overlapped perfectly with the original one. The Italian SEQ showed adequate internal consistency. Convergent validity measured with an index of perceived satisfaction in the counselling process showed significant positive correlations. This pilot study showed that the Italian SEQ is a reliable instrument to measure the impact of clinical sessions. Validation studies are needed, especially to replicate the factor structure of the instrument and to better assess its validity.

The relationship between self-observed and other-observed countertransference and session outcome.

“…Apart from the patient dimensions of Smoothness and Arousal, which have poor reliability, the remaining dimensions have, according to George and Mallery's ( 2003) criteria, at least acceptable reliability. Significant positive correlations between the SEQ dimensions and other instruments used to evaluate the session impact and patients' satisfaction were found and support the validity of this instrument (Elliott & Wexler, 1994;Rocco et al, 2017).…”

“…The internal consistency of the four factors emerging from the factor analysis (Reynolds et al, 1996; Stiles, 1980; Stiles et al, 1994; Stiles & Snow, 1984), measured by Cronbach’s alpha, was high (respectively, Depth = .87, Smoothness = .93, Positivity = .89, and Arousal = .78) for the original version (Stiles et al, 1994), as well as for the Italian version (respectively, Depth = .86, Smoothness = .77, Positivity = .83, and Arousal = .74; Rocco et al, 2017). In our sample, we calculated the internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) of the five SEQ dimensions and found the following values: Depth (therapist) = .78; Smoothness (therapist) = .82; Positivity (therapist) = .78; Arousal (therapist) = .78; Depth (patient) = .80; Smoothness (patient) = .51; Positivity (patient) = .82; Arousal (patient) = .56; Good therapist (patient) = .70.…”

“…Session Evaluation Questionnaire. The Session Evaluation Questionnaire (SEQ; Rocco et al, 2017;Stiles, 1980) was conceived to evaluate the impact of counseling and psychotherapy sessions and represents a way to build a bridge between the psychotherapy process and outcome. The SEQ is a questionnaire for clients and therapists, investigating their experience with the clinical session that just ended.…”

Therapists’ Clinical Work between Sessions: A Preliminary Study of the Post Session Therapist Questionnaire

“…This service's goal is to help students who are facing situations that cause psychological distress, whether that is relational (e.g., conflictual family life or problems with friends or partners), specific (e.g., eating disorders; addiction; complicated mourning; panic attacks; depression; self-esteem problems; or difficulty in managing anger, anxiety, or sadness), or general (e.g., confusion related to exams or fears about entering the job market after graduationnot linked to cognitive issues). The whole project involves the administration of various questionnaires to both clinicians and patients; these questionnaires have all been validated in Italy (see the Session Evaluation Questionnaire, Rocco, Salcuni, & Antonelli, 2017, and the Session Impact Scale, Rocco, Antonelli, & Salcuni, 2018).…”

Oriented mentalization-based treatment for borderline personality disorder patients: preliminary results at Camposampiero Mental Health Center

“…Session Evaluation Questionnaire - Patient version and Clinician version (SEQ-P and SEQ-T) (Rocco, Salcuni, & Antonelli, 2017 ) is a self-report questionnaire prepared in double version (for the clinician and for the patient), gathering a multiple-informants perspective along with a 7-degree semantic differential scale. The patient version consists of 27 items about the just-ended session: 12 of them concern the patient’s perception/sensations about the session; 12 of them interrogate the patient about his/her personal experience; 3 of them investigate the patient’s perception of the therapist.…”