title: Therapy processes and outcomes of psychological interventions for women diagnosed with gynecological cancers: A test of the generic process model of psychotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little attention has been paid to the role of nonspecific therapy processes in the efficacy of psychological interventions for individuals diagnosed with cancer. The goal of the current study was to examine the three constructs from the generic model of psychotherapy (GMP): therapeutic alliance, therapeutic realizations, and therapeutic openness/involvement in the treatment outcome of women with gynecological cancers attending either a 7-session supportive counseling intervention or a coping and communication skills intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two hundred and three women completed measures of alliance, realizations, and openness after Intervention Sessions 2, 3, and 6, as well as measures of depressive symptoms after these sessions and 6 months after the pre-intervention assessment (posttreatment).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Consistent with the GMP, in early sessions, therapeutic bond predicted openness in terms of positive affect experienced during sessions, and both aspects of openness (positive and negative affect), in turn, predicted more therapeutic realizations. Therapeutic realizations predicted perceptions of greater session progress, and greater therapeutic bond predicted more therapeutic realizations. When early session GMP variables were used to predict later GMP processes and outcomes and posttreatment outcomes, early therapeutic bond predicted later session therapeutic realizations directly and indirectly via emotional arousal, emotional arousal predicted session progress, session progress predicted lower postsession depressive symptoms, and depressive symptoms as rated after Session 6 predicted depressive symptoms 3 months posttreatment. However, a number of additional associations among GMP processes were found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results suggest that therapy processes played a role in predicting both short- and long-term treatment outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Prevention and Control Program, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Cheltenham, Pennsylvania 19012, USA. Sharon.Manne@fccc.edu
authors.forename: Sharon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Manne
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Winkel
authors.forename: Talia
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zaider
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bergman
mesh_terms: D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D005833:Genital Neoplasms, Female / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome