Faculty Articles

Therapeutic Alliance Building During the Child Psychiatric Intake: Does VTC Make a Difference?

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-2012

Publication Title

Military Medicine

Volume

177

Issue/Number

5

First Page

541

ISSN

0026-4075

Last Page

545

Abstract/Excerpt

This study examined potential changes in perceptions of therapeutic (“working”) alliance during a child's initial diagnostic interview from the parent's perspective. The major study objective was to determine whether parental perceptions of alliance vary by group (video teleconferencing [VTC], face-to-face [FTF]) over time (Pre, Post intake). It was predicted that parental alliance would be more favorable after an FTF encounter relative to a VTC intervention.

Participants were recruited and enrolled in two study cohorts between August 2000 and October 2005. Parents completed the Parental Perceptions of Alliance Questionnaire (PPAQ) immediately before (pre-PPAQ) and after (post-PPAQ) their interview.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) tests showed that the mean PPAQ scores of FTF groups being higher than that of VTC groups (controlling for time) was statistically significant, F(1,144) = 4.14, p = 0.04. However, upon further analysis, the interaction effect was not significant, F(1,144) = 1.20, p = 0.28.

Findings from the current exploratory study suggest that, at least following an intake child psychiatric examination, parents' perceptions of therapeutic alliance are stronger than they were before intake for those conducted in an FTF format as well as through VTC.

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Peer Reviewed

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