Expectations About Couple Therapy Over Time

Tambling, Rachel B.; Anderson, Shayne R.; Wong, Alison G.

doi:10.1007/s10591-016-9390-x

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The latter results are consistent with Tambling et al. () finding that after a few sessions, some clients described their partners’ behavior in therapy as exceeding their pretherapy expectations.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…In Study 3, on the other hand, no differences emerged on the Self or Outcome scales between participants who were versus were not current clients, whereas significantly higher scores were found on the Partner scale. The latter results are consistent with Tambling et al (2016) finding that after a few sessions, some clients described their partners' behavior in therapy as exceeding their pretherapy expectations.…”

Section: Expectationssupporting

confidence: 90%

“…Rather, as the therapeutic process evolves, clients in conjoint therapy may see benefits in ways that they had not initially anticipated (cf. Tambling et al., ). For this reason, we recommend that therapists administer the measure prior to the first session and review each partner's responses before beginning the intake.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additionally, administering the EPSCT to couples on multiple occasions could test for shifts in expectations and preferences over time in treatment. In doing so, researchers could assess for the positive expectancy effect reported in Tambling et al's (2016) qualitative analysis of interviews with 10 couples. These authors concluded that clients' initial expectations for their partners' involvement in treatment were either confirmed (e.g., spoke honestly; opened up about feelings) or exceeded (e.g., more emotionally expressive; more open to criticism) after two or four sessions (p. 356).…”

Section: Limitations and Other Suggested Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Friedlander

Muetzelfeld

et al. 2019

Family Process

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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.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Expectationssupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitations and Other Suggested Future Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

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

Friedlander

Muetzelfeld

et al. 2019

Family Process

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“…Additionally, since expectations shift as therapy progresses (Constantino et al, 2018; R. Tambling et al, 2014; R. B. Tambling et al, 2016), we recommend repeated comparisons of partners’ expectations in relation to alliance, proximal, and distal outcomes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heterosexual couples’ initial role and outcome expectations as predictors of the therapeutic alliance and relationship satisfaction prior to the fourth session.

Orlowski,

Friedlander,

Johnson

et al. 2024

Journal of Counseling Psychology

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We sampled routinely collected measures of role and outcome expectations, the expanded therapeutic alliance, and relationship satisfaction completed by 253 heterosexual couples seen by 35 therapists in the Marriage and Family Research Practice Network (Johnson et al., 2017) and investigated these variables as interdependent dyadic processes using the latent congruence model (Cheung, 2009) and the mediated actor-partner interdependence model (Ledermann et al., 2011). Taken together, we found a direct association between a couple's mean role and outcome expectation scores at Session 1 and individual partners' alliance perceptions at Session 3. Further, men rated the alliance more favorably when their outcome expectations were higher and the partners' outcome expectations were less discrepant. In terms of role expectations, both men and women began therapy expecting to be more actively engaged in the process than their partner. Whereas women rated the alliance more favorably when they had high role expectations for their partner as well as themselves, men rated the alliance more favorably when they had high expectations for their female partner's engagement in the therapy. Notably, alliance at Session 3 did not mediate the association between initial expectations and Session 4 relationship satisfaction due to a strong association (r = 0.85) between relationship satisfaction rated prior to Sessions 1 and 4. In other words, although the best predictor of relationship status before the fourth session was how the relationship was perceived before couple therapy began, men's and women's initial role and outcome expectations were important contributors to the early alliance. Public Significance StatementHeterosexual couples routinely completed measures of role and outcome expectations (before Session 1), the expanded therapeutic alliance (before Session 3), and relationship satisfaction (before Sessions 1 and 4). The alliance was stronger when as a couple, both partners anticipated positive results and expected each other to play an active role in therapy; men rated the alliance more positively when the couple's initial outcome expectations were less discrepant. At the outset of therapy, both partners expected to be more actively engaged in the process than their partner. Nonetheless, the best predictor of Session 4 relationship satisfaction was how positively clients rated their relationship before therapy began.

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Introducing Movement into Couple Therapy: Clients’ Expectations and Perceptions

Shuper-Engelhard

Vulcan

2018

Contemp Fam Ther

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Expectations About Couple Therapy Over Time

Cited by 4 publications

References 8 publications

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

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

Heterosexual couples’ initial role and outcome expectations as predictors of the therapeutic alliance and relationship satisfaction prior to the fourth session.

Introducing Movement into Couple Therapy: Clients’ Expectations and Perceptions

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