title: Patient-Therapist Perspective of the Working Alliance in Psychotherapy.
abstract: This study aimed to examine perceptions of the working alliance in a sample of Spanish patients and therapists. The alliance was measured after the third and tenth psychotherapy sessions using patient and therapist versions of the Spanish adaptation of the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI). After both sessions, correlations between the patients' and therapists' ratings, both of total alliance and of the various dimensions of the alliance, were moderate at best. Moreover, after the third psychotherapy session, patients' scores for the total alliance and the Goal and Task subscales were significantly higher than the scores from their therapists in these dimensions. Following the tenth session, patient ratings exceeded those of their therapists only on the Task subscale. Finally, in contrast to the ratings of patients, therapists' alliance ratings increased significantly between the third and tenth sessions of psychotherapy. Certain recommendations are presented to improve the study of patient and therapist perceptions of the working alliance and to increase the convergence between them with regard to this central treatment variable.
authors.affiliation: Relational Processes and Psychotherapy Research Group, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Alcalá, Campus Universitario, Carretera Madrid-Barcelona Km. 33,600, 28871, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. nelson.andrade@edu.uah.es.
authors.forename: Nelson
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Andrade-González
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.|IRyCIS, CIBERSAM, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Guillermo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lahera
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Alcalá, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernández-Liria
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011613:Psychotherapy; D013030:Spain; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Patient perspective; Patient-therapist convergence; Therapist perspective; Working alliance