Inpatients' perceptions of therapeutic factors in group psychotherapy

• Main Author: Koch, James E
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-1985
• Subjects: Clinical psychology; Psychotherapy
• ISBN: 9798413190487

This study attempted to clarify what therapeutic factors operate in group psychotherapy on a short-term psychiatric unit of a general hospital. The literature on crisis theory, psychiatric admission studies and the interpersonal theory of development and pathology provided a context to understand the utilization of group therapy in this setting. With this theoretical context, seventy-two male and female inpatients were interviewed and asked to complete a series of questionnaires that reflected their perception of group therapy (Therapeutic Factor Questionnaire), the perception of their emotional distress (SCL-90), their therapists' behavior and a series of semi-structured questions designed to elicit, among other things, their perceptions of their overall treatment. Factor analyses of patient responses on the Therapeutic Factor Questionnaire consistently extracted not distinct factors, but a General Therapeutic Factor (GTF). This was clearly at odds with other inpatient and outpatient reports which claimed that distinct therapeutic factors operate in groups. Original hypotheses, therefore, failed to replicate the influence of diagnostic and group variables (stability and number of groups) on the choice of distinct factors. No diagnostic group or even biographical variables accounted for variability on the GTF. Discussion focused on three variables which were associated with changes on the GTF: symptomatology in women, openness to interpersonal relationships and the nature of group treatment on an inpatient unit. Also delineated were four variables which may have contributed to this GTF dimension: differences in data collection procedures, differences in characteristics between inpatient and outpatient groups, therapist orientation, and behavior and measurement error.