title: Assessing Patients' Cognitive Therapy Skills: Initial Evaluation of the Competencies of Cognitive Therapy Scale.
abstract: In Cognitive Therapy (CT), therapists work to help patients develop skills to cope with negative affect. Most current methods of assessing patients' skills are cumbersome and impractical for clinical use. To address this issue, we developed and conducted an initial psychometric evaluation of self and therapist reported versions of a new measure of CT skills: the Competencies of Cognitive Therapy Scale (CCTS). We evaluated the CCTS at intake and post-treatment in a sample of 67 patients participating in CT. The CCTS correlated with a preexisting measure of CT skills (the Ways of Responding Questionnaire) and was also related to concurrent depressive symptoms. Across CT, self-reported improvements in CT competencies were associated with greater changes in depressive symptoms. These findings offer initial evidence for the validity of the CCTS. We discuss the CCTS in comparison with other measures of CT skills and suggest future research directions.
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Columbus, OH USA.
authors.forename: Daniel R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Strunk
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Columbus, OH USA.
authors.forename: Shannon N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Hollars
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Columbus, OH USA ; University of Pennsylvania, Aaron T. Beck Psychopathology Research Center, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA.
authors.forename: Abby D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Columbus, OH USA.
authors.forename: Lizabeth A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Goldstein
authors.affiliation: The Ohio State University, Department of Psychology, Columbus, OH USA.
authors.forename: Justin D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Braun
keywords: Cognitive therapy; assessment; depression; therapy skills