Abstract
Since the use of language is a core aspect of psychotherapy, its study requires instruments that allow for further research. The aim of this study is to present an observational instrument capable of analyzing the language used in psychotherapeutic settings, both by therapists and clients. The SICOLENTE instrument was applied to two different samples: The Three Approaches to Psychotherapy film and a naturalistic sample. 7710 utterances from 31 sessions (three from the demonstration film and 28 from a naturalistic setting) were coded. Two studies were conducted: in the first study, inter and intra coder reliability (dimension and category levels) and Generalizability theory analyzes were assessed, whilst in the second study, construct validity was tested with several hypotheses. The final instrument resulted in 20 categories with three dimensions: Conversational Act (7 categories), Therapeutic topic (6 categories) and Content (7 categories). The three dimensions showed excellent inter and intra coder reliability and the generalizability coefficients were excellent. Out of the 24 validity hypothesis proposed,19 were accepted. The finding suggests that the SICOLENTE is a reliable and valid instrument that can be applied to investigate the performance of various theoretical models. Its three dimensional structure gives it the flexibility to be able to carry out macroscopic or microscopic language research.
Highlights
Psychotherapy is a spoken profession and the conversation between the professional and the client is the central aspect of this work [1,2]
In accordance with Bakeman and Quera’s proposal to take into account the number of codes used and the prevalence of codes among other influential factors in the Kappa statistic [47], the results obtained by the evaluators in the inter-coder agreement was 95% observer accuracy for Conversational Act and 90% observer accuracy for Therapeutic Topic and Content
It was found that the lower agreement was obtained for the Improvement, Mixed (k = .77) and Behavior categories (k = .79) with the strongest agreements being for Follow (k = .99), Support (k = .95), New information (k = .91) and Physiology (k = 1)
Summary
Psychotherapy is a spoken profession and the conversation between the professional and the client is the central aspect of this work [1,2]. Since Freud [3] declared that "Words were originally magic, and to this day words have retained much of their ancient magical power" (p.17), many attempts have been made to develop that magic to make psychological treatments. Beck and Ellis’s influential cognitive therapies [6,7] focus their therapeutic potential on discussing client beliefs in sessions. Third-generation therapies focus on the direct or metaphorical use of language to make it easier for people to become detached from their thoughts [8]. It is the constructivist therapies that have assigned more importance to linguistic interaction as a tool for constructing changes in-session [9,10,11,12]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
