TY - JOUR
T1 - Assessment of the therapeutic alliance in physical rehabilitation
T2 - A RASCH analysis
AU - Hall, Amanda Marie
AU - Ferreira, Manuela L.
AU - Clemson, Lindy
AU - Ferreira, Paulo
AU - Latimer, Jane
AU - Maher, Chris G.
PY - 2012
Y1 - 2012
N2 - Purpose: To investigate the psychometric properties of the Working Alliance Inventory Theory of Change Inventory (WATOCI) in physical rehabilitation. Methods: RASCH analysis was used to examine the validity, internal consistency, reliability and discriminative properties of the 16-item WATOCI. Data was obtained from a randomized controlled trial, which employed the WATOCI to measure the alliance between physical therapists and patients with chronic low back pain. Results: The results indicated that 7 items on the 16-item WATOCI should need to be improved for use in physiotherapy settings. The resulting 9-item version of the WATOCI was found to be a uni-dimensional tool for measuring alliance, however, demonstrated a ceiling effect. Conclusions: There are several items in the WATOCI that require re-wording and/or re-contextualization prior to its use in clinical practice. Specifically, items relating more to the element social interaction did not discriminate well in this population and one solution may be to provide a therapy-specific context. Items regarding how well the patient understood the purpose of the treatment discriminated best between patients and this area is recommended for further development in the tool's assessment. It is recommended that future research address these issues prior to its use in clinical settings.
AB - Purpose: To investigate the psychometric properties of the Working Alliance Inventory Theory of Change Inventory (WATOCI) in physical rehabilitation. Methods: RASCH analysis was used to examine the validity, internal consistency, reliability and discriminative properties of the 16-item WATOCI. Data was obtained from a randomized controlled trial, which employed the WATOCI to measure the alliance between physical therapists and patients with chronic low back pain. Results: The results indicated that 7 items on the 16-item WATOCI should need to be improved for use in physiotherapy settings. The resulting 9-item version of the WATOCI was found to be a uni-dimensional tool for measuring alliance, however, demonstrated a ceiling effect. Conclusions: There are several items in the WATOCI that require re-wording and/or re-contextualization prior to its use in clinical practice. Specifically, items relating more to the element social interaction did not discriminate well in this population and one solution may be to provide a therapy-specific context. Items regarding how well the patient understood the purpose of the treatment discriminated best between patients and this area is recommended for further development in the tool's assessment. It is recommended that future research address these issues prior to its use in clinical settings.
KW - Physical rehabilitation
KW - therapeutic alliance
KW - WATOCI
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=83655198220&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3109/09638288.2011.606344
DO - 10.3109/09638288.2011.606344
M3 - Article
C2 - 21999716
AN - SCOPUS:83655198220
SN - 0963-8288
VL - 34
SP - 257
EP - 266
JO - Disability and Rehabilitation
JF - Disability and Rehabilitation
IS - 3
ER -