Factor Structure of the Short Version of the Working Alliance Inventory and Its Longitudinal Measurement Invariance Across Individual Career Counseling Sessions

Milot‐Lapointe, Francis; Corff, Yann Le; Savard, Réginald

doi:10.1177/1069072720925048

Cited by 11 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…These factors, however, were very highly correlated (0.708–0.964) as shown previously [ 101 , 104 , 105 ], raising questions about their interpretation, and limiting their use as simultaneous predictors in regression models because of multicollinearity concerns. Literature on the factor structure of the WAI(-S) in contexts other than coaching has yielded similarly inconsistent results, suggesting either a one- [ 104 , 106 ], two- [ 63 , 107 ], or three-factor structure [ 63 , 108 ]. Indeed, a more recent study [ 109 ] has suggested co-existence of general and specific working alliance factors but advised caution in the interpretation of the specific factors because they lacked uniqueness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prospective associations between working alliance, basic psychological need satisfaction, and coaching outcome indicators: a two-wave survey study among 181 Dutch coaching clients

et al. 2022

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Background The coach-coachee working alliance and coachee motivation seem important factors for achieving positive coaching results. Self-determination theory, specifically basic psychological need theory, has been proposed as a relevant framework for understanding these relationships. The current longitudinal survey study therefore investigates prospective associations between coachees’ appraisal of the working alliance, basic psychological need satisfaction, and the coaching outcome indicators goal attainment, wellbeing, absence of psychopathology, and personal growth initiative. Methods The sample (N = 181) consisted of Dutch coachees that were recruited across a range of coaching settings and contexts. Online self-report questionnaires were administered twice (T0 and T1), with an intervening time of 3 weeks, assessing working alliance, basic psychological need satisfaction, goal attainment, wellbeing, absence of psychopathology, and personal growth initiative. Parallel analysis with Monte Carlo simulations and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to assess the dimensionality of working alliance and basic psychological need satisfaction scores. Multiple regression analyses (stepwise) were used to examine prospective (T0 to T1) associations between working alliance and basic psychological need satisfaction, and their association with outcome indicators. Results The coachees’ perception of the working alliance was positively and reciprocally, although modestly, associated with basic psychological need satisfaction. In addition, both working alliance and basic psychological need satisfaction were prospectively associated with goal attainment, but not with other outcome indicators. Conclusions Results provide tentative support for a role of basic psychological need satisfaction in facilitating the establishment of a good working alliance. Additionally, the perception of a good quality, need supportive relationship with the coach appears to be associated with better goal achievement, but not with other outcome indicators. Associations were generally modest, and more research is needed to better measure and comprehend the unique contributions of specific relational and motivational factors to outcomes in coaching and assess the robustness of the current study findings.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prospective associations between working alliance, basic psychological need satisfaction, and coaching outcome indicators: a two-wave survey study among 181 Dutch coaching clients

et al. 2022

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“…The instrument used in this study, the working alliance inventory (WAI; Horvath & Greenberg, 1989) is the most often used measure to investigate the relations between the alliance and treatment outcomes (Flückiger, Del Re, et al, 2018). The BP factor structure of the alliance over the course of treatment has been of continued interest to researchers and there is an ongoing debate whether WAI operationalizes a stable one, two, or three-factorial construct over the various stages of therapy (e.g., Andrusyna et al, 2001; Cirasola et al, 2020; Constantino et al, 2020; Corbière et al, 2006; Hukkelberg & Ogden, 2016; Kivlighan et al, 2016; Milot-Lapointe et al, 2020). The research using BP designs to investigate the factor structure of the WAI yielded inconsistent results.…”

Section: Longitudinal Investigations Of the Alliancementioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of patients’ concept of the alliance and its relation to outcome: A dynamic latent-class structural equation modeling approach.

Flückiger¹,

Horvath²,

Brandt³

2022

Journal of Counseling Psychology

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The working alliance (WA) has been widely identified as the key concept for psychotherapy and allied health care services. The WA, measured at different phases of diverse kinds of therapies, has been shown to robustly predict posttreatment outcomes. But the way the clients' conceptualization of the alliance evolves overtime, and the relation between this kind of conceptual change and subsequent symptom improvements, has not been investigated. Dynamic Latent Class Structural Equation Models (DLC-SEM) were applied to data drawn from two randomized clinical trials of cognitive-behavioral therapy for generalized anxiety disorder (N = 57 and 80) to evaluate several potential models of the relation between the conceptual/ structural changes in patients' self-reports of the quality of the alliance and subsequent treatment outcomes. Inspection of the DLC-SEM models suggests that, overtime, between 63% and 66% of the better sessionlevel outcome clients switched from three factors (task, goal, bond) to an integrated single factor conceptualization of the therapeutic alliance. The study indicates that the majority of patients evolve their concept of the alliance overtime: The previously distinct alliance elements become integrated into a single factor construct. These findings suggest that if such overtime development is generalizable across diverse patient/treatment populations, future research ought to take these developments into account both methodologically (i.e., how alliance is measured) and in analyzing time-series data (e.g., using DLC-SEM). By modeling the patient's dynamic concept evolution, this initial study shows a potential to empirically explore prior theoretical propositions of the evolutions (or stability) of the alliance overtime. Public Significance StatementThis study provides empirical evidence that the majority of clients who indicate that their condition is improving from session to session, also evolve their conceptualization of the nature of their alliance with the therapist. In other words, most of the potentially good outcome patients see their collaborative relation to their therapist as a more integrated concept. If what was observed in this study can be generalized, it would imply that therapist also need to adjust their relational focus to accommodate such, more integrated notion of the alliance during therapy.

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“…Two studies, both with doubtful methodological quality, analyzed longitudinal measurement invariance of the WAI-S-P (Milot-Lapointe et al, 2020;Cirasola et al, 2021). Both studies found no significant differences across treatment sessions.…”

Section: Cross-cultural Validity/measurement Invariancementioning

confidence: 99%

The Working Alliance Inventory's Measurement Properties: A Systematic Review

Paap

Karel²,

Verhagen³

et al. 2022

Front. Psychol.

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Measurement properties of the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) and its various translations and adaptations for specific target groups have been investigated for over 30 years. No systematic review analyzing studies on measurement properties of the WAI has been conducted to date. COnsensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurements INstruments (COSMIN) were developed for conducting high-quality systematic reviews on measurement properties in a transparent and standardized way. Aim of this study was to systematically review studies on measurement properties of the WAI, and its adapted versions, within psychotherapy, and other healthcare contexts using COSMIN criteria. PsycINFO, Medline, and EMBASE were searched (1989–2021). In all phases of the review procedure, study selection, data extraction, risk of bias assessment, rating of the quality of measurement properties, and rating of the quality of evidence for measurement properties, disagreement between reviewers was resolved by discussion. Results on validity, internal structure, reliability, construct validity, and responsiveness were analyzed. In total 66 studies were included. In most studies, evidence for measurement properties was according to COSMIN criteria, insufficient, lacking, or conflicting. Content validity was rated insufficient because neither patients nor healthcare professionals were involved in the development and validation process. Hence evidence for content validity of the WAI is unknown. Conflicting evidence was found for structural validity. Evidence for internal consistency could not be established. Limited evidence was found for inter-rater reliability and convergent validity. Conflicting evidence was also found for test-retest reliability and divergent validity. COSMIN criteria exposed persistent problems in validation studies of the WAI. These findings may indicate that measurement properties of the WAI are not up to current standards, or that COSMIN criteria may be less appropriate for assessing measurement properties of the WAI, or it could indicate both. The results of this systematic review suggest that WAI outcomes should be interpreted with caution and further research is needed regarding the content validity and hypotheses development. For the future, the theoretical framework underlying the measurement of the working alliance needs to be studied in psychotherapy and other health contexts, and tested in methodologically sound studies.Systematic Review Registrationhttps://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42019051428.

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Factor Structure of the Short Version of the Working Alliance Inventory and Its Longitudinal Measurement Invariance Across Individual Career Counseling Sessions

Cited by 11 publications

References 45 publications

Prospective associations between working alliance, basic psychological need satisfaction, and coaching outcome indicators: a two-wave survey study among 181 Dutch coaching clients

Prospective associations between working alliance, basic psychological need satisfaction, and coaching outcome indicators: a two-wave survey study among 181 Dutch coaching clients

The evolution of patients’ concept of the alliance and its relation to outcome: A dynamic latent-class structural equation modeling approach.

The Working Alliance Inventory's Measurement Properties: A Systematic Review

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