Development of the Comprehensive Psychotherapeutic Interventions Rating Scale (CPIRS)

Three studies on the reliability and validity of the Comprehensive Psychotherapeutic Interventions Rating Scale (CPIRS) for measuring the presence and distribution of interventions in psychotherapy are reported. The CPIRS consists of 76 interventions using 6 types of therapy: experiential, psychodynamic, directive behavioral, cognitive, group dynamic, and systemic. An 18-hr training period yielded a satisfactory interrater agreement. The 1st and 2nd studies showed some negative findings regarding construct validity when comparing video fragments of individual client-centered, psychodynamic, cognitive, and behavior therapies. In the 3rd study, experiential, psychodynamic, directive behavioral, and group dynamic interventions discriminated among real-life sessions of individual (client centered, psychodynamic, and behavioral), group (psychodynamic and behavioral), and couple therapies. The sessions were representative of specific psychotherapies. However, interventions from other orientations were also present.