Massey Documents by Type

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    Termination of psychotherapy : the relationship between the termination process, judgements of the client's need for further treatment and psychotherapy outcome : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University
    (Massey University, 1994) Kendall, Timothy Edward George
    This study was based on the data gained from eighty one terminating clients and their therapists at a university Psychological Services Centre. The study investigated the frequency with which clients and therapists agreed about three components of the termination process and if agreement was related to client outcome. The three components of termination investigated were, the reasons therapy was terminated, the mutuality of termination and the degree of need for further therapy. Client narrative responses to the question "Why is your therapy ending?" were coded into categories of reason and mutuality of termination. Raters reliably coded the majority of narrative answers. No difference in the ability of raters to make a coding with regard to the raters experience in Clinical Psychology was found. In approximately fifty percent of cases, therapists and clients did not agree about these three components of termination. It was also found that in those cases where there was agreement, the clients had better psychological outcomes, than in cases where there was no agreement.
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    Getting the feel of therapy : understanding therapists' views and experiences regarding social-emotional skills in practice : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2016) Boshra, Verena
    Emotions are arguably at the heart of psychotherapy. While clients’ emotions in therapy have received a great deal of research attention, outside the realm of psychoanalytic and psychodynamic research, therapists’ emotions have largely been neglected. When applied to therapy, the concept of social-emotional skills describes therapists’ ability to be aware of their own and their clients’ emotions and then draw on that information to manage those emotions and in turn, the therapeutic interaction. As therapists’ social-emotional skills are a relatively new area of enquiry, this qualitative study sought to contribute to the literature by exploring therapists’ views and experiences regarding social-emotional skills in practice. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with ten practicing therapist participants between the ages of 31 and 62. Using Thematic Analysis, The Centrality of Emotions in Therapy was determined as a meta-theme and this was further organised into four main themes; Emotional Principles, Emotional Awareness Strategies, Emotional Practices as well as the Learning and Training of Social-Emotional Skills. The findings were visually represented using ‘The Tree of Therapists’ Social-Emotional Interactions’ model. Implications of the findings, limitations of the current study and future research directions are discussed.
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    E kore au e ngaro, he kakano ahau : whakapapa sharing in the context of therapy : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for a Doctorate in Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Wellington Campus, New Zealand
    (Massey University, 2014) Mitchell, Arna
    Maori experience disproportionately negative outcomes in mental health in New Zealand. The adaptation of therapeutic assessments and interventions to allow more culturally appropriate work with Maori occurs, however, little research promoting an understanding of client’s experience of these adaptations exists. One such adaptation is the sharing of whakapapa (genealogy) between therapist and client. Whakapapa sharing involves a level of therapist self disclosure not yet investigated in psychological literature. This Maori centred analogue study investigates the client’s experience of whakapapa sharing during the first session of therapy. A mixed, between and within subjects design was used, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed. 30 Maori women between the ages of 18 and 40 participated in two sessions of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, participants were allocated to either a Whakapapa Sharing group or a Therapist Non-Disclosure group. All participants completed questionnaires measuring the therapeutic alliance, therapy expectancy, outcome of therapy and a cultural questionnaire measuring participant knowledge of their own whakapapa. Participants from the Whakapapa Sharing group also reported on their experience of the sharing. Quantitative analyses revealed no group differences in either the therapeutic relationship measure or the outcome measure. All participants from the Whakapapa Sharing group, regardless of their level of knowledge of their own whakapapa, reported the whakapapa sharing as a positive experience. Further analysis of the qualitative data revealed five main themes; the whakapapa sharing process reported to promote engagement, was perceived as important for Maori, allowed the establishment of connections between therapist and client, provided clients with information with which to form judgements about the therapist and the sharing was seen to be an equitible experience. These themes were arranged into a theoretical model, in which, all five were hypothesised to have a relationship with the power imbalance inherent between therapist and client. Whereby four of the themes were hypothesised to contribute to a decrease in the imbalance of power and the final theme was seen as a result of the decrease in the power imbalance. These tentative findings suggest that the exchange of whakapapa between a therapist and client may serve to decrease the power imbalance in the therapeutic relationship, and as such, it is an appropriate process of engagement in a therapeutic setting with Maori clients, who often experience marginalisation.
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    Therapist relational skills and client resistance in a short motivational programme for offenders : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand.
    (Massey University, 2013) Provan, Hagan Ross
    Developing a better understanding of client resistance, and better evidence-based practise principles for dealing with resistance, have the potential to increase the efficacy of psychotherapy. There has been very limited research into client resistance, and even less which has investigated the link between therapist behaviours and resistance. The limited research to date has been conflicting and has primarily focused on narrowly operationalised definitions of resistance, as well as limiting measurement of therapist behaviours to therapist technical skills rather than interpersonal skills. There is little research investigating specific therapist relational skills that contribute to or reduce the likelihood of client resistance, and how this in-session interpersonal dynamic takes place. This study utilised a multi-method design to investigate the relationship between a number of therapist relational skills (therapist empathy-perspective taking, therapist empathy-attunement, and therapist resistance) and client resistance. Resistance was defined as oppositional behaviour within the session, or lack of engagement with the other member of the dyad, and perceived as the outcome of an interpersonal process. DVDs of therapy sessions were accessed from a from a Short Motivational Programme run by the Department of Corrections in New Zealand. Each of the DVDs was coded on a minute by minute basis, using measures of therapist interpersonal skills and client resistance. The study also measured the working alliance. The analysis combined: a group analysis of broad patterns across the dyads; a single case analysis involving a visual analysis of graphed data, supplemented with descriptive statistics; and a narrative analysis of client-therapist dialog. The results showed that therapist resistance and client resistance were strongly and positively related. The relationship between the two variables was also found to be temporally proximal at the level of a one minute segment. There was also a strong, but inverse relationship, between therapist empathy and client resistance, and again, the relationship was temporally proximal at the level of the one minute segment. Therapist resistance, especially, was closely synchronised to client resistance in terms of the timing of onset and cessation, and was also synchronised in terms of the level (intensity) of the two measures. The findings provide evidence for the idea that client resistance is often the result of an interpersonal dynamic, rather than simply an intrapersonal characteristic, and can be contributed to by poor therapist relational skills. The results showed that either therapist or client resistance can appear first, and tend to elicit resistance from the other member of the dyad (and lack of perspective taking by the therapist), which in turn elicits further resistance from the other dyad member. This appears to set in place a conflictual interpersonal dynamic that tends not to cease until the therapist stops resisting the client’s message, and takes a more empathic-perspective taking stance. The results also suggested that therapist perspective taking and therapist resistance may be specific interpersonal dynamics contributing to successful/unsuccessful therapist confrontations.