TY - JOUR
T1 - Therapeutic alliance, empathy, and genuineness in individual adult psychotherapy
T2 - A meta-analytic review
AU - Nienhuis, Jacob B.
AU - Owen, Jesse
AU - Valentine, Jeffrey C.
AU - Winkeljohn Black, Stephanie
AU - Halford, Tyler C.
AU - Parazak, Stephanie E.
AU - Budge, Stephanie
AU - Hilsenroth, Mark
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Society for Psychotherapy Research.
PY - 2018/7/4
Y1 - 2018/7/4
N2 - Objective: Alliance, empathy, and genuineness are each integral parts of the therapeutic relationship. No previous meta-analysis has explored the extent to which therapist empathy and genuineness contribute to the therapeutic alliance. Method: In this meta-analysis, a multifaceted search strategy yielded 53 studies. Forty studies reported alliance/empathy relationships, eight studies reported alliance/genuineness relationships, and five studies reported both. Results: Random effects meta-analyses revealed that therapeutic alliance was significantly related to perceptions of therapist empathy with a mean r = 0.50 (95% CI = 0.42, 0.57). Therapeutic alliance was also significantly related to perceptions of therapist genuineness with a mean r = 0.59 (95% CI = 0.45, 0.71). Tests of publication bias indicated a low likelihood of publication bias affecting the strength and direction of the results. Potential moderating variables were explored, including rater perspective, measure of therapeutic relationship variables, and client race/ethnicity. Conclusions: Therapeutic alliance has a moderate relationship with perceptions of therapist empathy and genuineness. Of note, there may be reason to believe that when rated by the same person, these constructs have significant overlap and lack discreteness. Future directions for study of the therapeutic relationship are discussed. Implications for practice are provided.
AB - Objective: Alliance, empathy, and genuineness are each integral parts of the therapeutic relationship. No previous meta-analysis has explored the extent to which therapist empathy and genuineness contribute to the therapeutic alliance. Method: In this meta-analysis, a multifaceted search strategy yielded 53 studies. Forty studies reported alliance/empathy relationships, eight studies reported alliance/genuineness relationships, and five studies reported both. Results: Random effects meta-analyses revealed that therapeutic alliance was significantly related to perceptions of therapist empathy with a mean r = 0.50 (95% CI = 0.42, 0.57). Therapeutic alliance was also significantly related to perceptions of therapist genuineness with a mean r = 0.59 (95% CI = 0.45, 0.71). Tests of publication bias indicated a low likelihood of publication bias affecting the strength and direction of the results. Potential moderating variables were explored, including rater perspective, measure of therapeutic relationship variables, and client race/ethnicity. Conclusions: Therapeutic alliance has a moderate relationship with perceptions of therapist empathy and genuineness. Of note, there may be reason to believe that when rated by the same person, these constructs have significant overlap and lack discreteness. Future directions for study of the therapeutic relationship are discussed. Implications for practice are provided.
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U2 - 10.1080/10503307.2016.1204023
DO - 10.1080/10503307.2016.1204023
M3 - Article
C2 - 27389666
AN - SCOPUS:84978977067
SN - 1050-3307
VL - 28
SP - 593
EP - 605
JO - Psychotherapy Research
JF - Psychotherapy Research
IS - 4
ER -