Expectations About Couple Therapy: A Qualitative Investigation

Abstract

7989 Timulak, L., & Creaner, M. (2010). Qualitative meta-analysis of outcomes of person-centered/experiential therapies. In M. Cooper, J. C. Watson, & D. Holldampf (Eds.), Person-centered and experiential therapies work:A review of the research on counselling, psychotherapy and related practices (pp. 65-90). PCCS Books. Timulak, L., & Creaner, M. ( 2022). Meta-analysis in qualitative research:A descriptive-interpretative approach. In U. Flick (Ed.), The SAGE handbook of qualitative research design (pp. 555-570). Sage Publications.

Introducing the Expectations and Preference Scales for Couple Therapy (EPSCT): Development, Psychometric Evaluation, and Suggested Use in Practice and Research

“…Consistent with the qualitative findings of Tambling and colleagues (Tambling, 2012;Tambling & Johnson, 2010;Tambling et al, 2014), who interviewed clients about their expectations at different points in treatment, participants in our four samples reported moderately positive outcome expectancies. Of the various items created for the expectancy scales, the factor accounting for the most variance consisted mainly of Outcome items.…”

“…We began developing items reflecting how adults seeking couple therapy might expect themselves and their partners to behave in this therapeutic context (role expectancies, e.g., I expect to listen to my partner's concerns and I expect that my partner will blame me ) as well as their expected outcomes (outcome expectancies, e.g., I expect that our relationship will improve as a result of couple therapy ). To do so, we reviewed several client expectation measures developed for individual therapy (Norberg, Wetterneck, Sass, & Kanter, ; Tinsley, ) and literature related to dimensions of expectations in general (Constantino et al., ) and for couple therapy in particular (Tambling, ; Tambling & Johnson, ; Tambling et al., ). Recognizing the uniqueness of the couple therapy context, we created additional items related to how couples’ interactions reflect their within‐system working alliance, that is, the degree to which partners agree on the nature of their problems, their goals, and the value of conjoint therapy for achieving those goals (Escudero & Friedlander, ; Friedlander, Escudero, & Heatherington, ).…”

“…Although no expectation (Tambling, ) or preference measures have been created specifically for couple therapy, the nature and importance of romantic partners’ treatment expectations has been documented in several qualitative investigations. In general, most clients interviewed in these studies described anticipating couple therapy to be helpful in achieving specific goals, had clear expectations for their own behavior, and expected to delve deeply into personal issues while collaborating with their partners to solve relationship problems (Tambling, Anderson, & Wong, ; Tambling & Johnson, ). Moreover, expectations described to an interviewer before the first session often matched participants’ experiences in the subsequent six sessions (Tambling et al., ).…”

“…In general, most clients interviewed in these studies described anticipating couple therapy to be helpful in achieving specific goals, had clear expectations for their own behavior, and expected to delve deeply into personal issues while collaborating with their partners to solve relationship problems (Tambling, Anderson, & Wong, ; Tambling & Johnson, ). Moreover, expectations described to an interviewer before the first session often matched participants’ experiences in the subsequent six sessions (Tambling et al., ). Interestingly, some clients’ initially low expectations for their partners’ behavior improved in ways that surprised them.…”

Relations between attachment insecurity and role and outcome expectations for couple therapy

“…The first studies on the topic involved qualitative analyses of interviews with clients (e.g. Tambling and Johnson, 2010; Tambling, Wong and Anderson, 2014). Thematic results revealed that not only do people enter treatment with expectancies about the potential outcome, but also they have specific expectations about their own and their partner’s in‐session behaviours.…”