Initial development and psychometric properties of the Therapist Quality Scale.
Melissa A Day, L Charles Ward, Dawn M Ehde and 5 others
PMID 38358711WHAT IT FOUND
The new therapist quality scale had items that hung together well in group chronic pain sessions, but it did not show that higher quality scores meant better patient pain outcomes.
Key findings
01Eight of the 14 initial quality items were retained to form a global therapist quality score.
02The global scores were similar across the two rated sessions, with average scores of 4.27 and 4.41 on the 0 to 6 scale.
03The study did not test whether higher quality scores predicted better patient outcomes because all therapists were rated very high quality.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The analysis used only 33 pairs of session ratings, so the scale needs more data to confirm its structure. All therapists were PhD clinical psychologists with chronic pain experience and intensive training, and they were rated very high quality, so the scores had little spread and the study could not test whether quality predicted outcomes. Treatment was group therapy, so the findings apply to group-delivered therapy, not one-to-one therapy. The measure was tested only in cognitive therapy, behavioral activation, and mindfulness meditation group sessions. The paper reports initial testing of the scale, not whether it improves care.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include a funding or conflicts-of-interest declaration. It only says the study sponsor approved the research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that better therapist quality improves chronic pain outcomes. The study did not link the scale scores to patient results, and all therapists were highly trained and rated very high quality, so the scale was not tested against outcome.