title: Sequential analyses of therapist-client interaction during change events: a task-focused approach.
abstract: In this article, we describe a task-focused approach that uses sequential analyses as deductive techniques for studying therapist-client interactions in the context of clinical microtheories of change events. The methodology is demonstrated in a study of a class of change events in client-centered therapy referred to as the resolution of problematic reactions. Logit-loglinear analysis and binomial z scores were used to test the effects of therapist behavior, assessed by therapist vocal quality and by the therapist task-relevant system, on client process assessed by client vocal quality and by the Experiencing Scale. The results indicated (a) that therapist productive voice facilitated a shift from poor to productive client voice and a shift from low to intermediate experiencing and (b) that therapist task-specific interventions directed toward resolution facilitated shifts to high experiencing. This task-focused approach to sequential analyses has the potential to yield clinically and theoretically relevant findings.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wiseman
authors.forename: L N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Rice
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009629:Person-Centered Psychotherapy; D011340:Problem Solving; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011614:Psychotherapy, Brief; D014833:Voice Quality