Child, caregiver, and therapist perspectives on therapeutic alliance in usual care child psychotherapy

Abstract

This study examined the temporal stability and cross-informant agreement on multiple perspectives of child and caregiver alliance with therapists in usual care psychotherapy. Baseline predictors of alliance were also examined. Children with disruptive behavior problems (n = 209) and their caregivers were followed for up to 16 months after initiating psychotherapy at a community-based clinic. Alliance was rated by children, caregivers, and therapists every 4 months for as long as families participated in treatment. Repeated-measures analyses using linear mixed models with random intercepts were conducted to determine whether child and caregiver alliance differed across time, as well to examine factors associated with each perspective on alliance. Intraclass correlations between child, caregiver, and therapist reports of alliance were also examined. Alliance was rated relatively high overall across perspectives. Clients (children and caregivers) tended to report the strongest and most stable alliance, while therapists reported the weakest alliance and perceived deteriorations in child alliance over time. Inter-informant agreement was variable for child and caregiver alliance; agreement was moderate between clients and therapists. Several predictors of alliance emerged, including child gender, anxiety diagnosis, caregiver race/ethnicity, and therapist experience. This study provides methodological information about reports of therapeutic alliance across time and informants that can inform current efforts to understand the alliance-outcome association.

Figure 1

Child and caregiver alliance patterns across 16 months (plotted means).