Agentic Self-view as Common Factor in Psychotherapy - Self-efficacy in the Treatment of Inpatients Over the Course of Time

Overview

The purpose of this study is to assess the development of self-efficacy over the course of psychotherapeutic inpatient treatment and to examine the interplay of symptom severity with group cohesion and positive self-view, respectively. Moreover, variables that potentially moderate the relationship between positive self-view and treatment outcome will be investigated.

In this study, the aim is to investigate the role of patients' self-efficacy in inpatient psychotherapeutic treatment. More specifically, it will be explored whether patients' positive self-view over the course of psychotherapeutic treatment is linked to symptom severity throughout and at the end of inpatient treatment. Moreover, the interplay between positive self-view and other variables that could potentially influence the psychotherapeutic process such as patients' group cohesion will be investigated. Therefore, it will be examined whether changes in positive self-view and in group cohesion precede and explain symptom change. Furthermore, another objective of the study is to examine whether certain patient characteristics influence the relation between positive self-view and treatment outcome. More precisely, it will be investigated whether patient characteristics such as attachment style and tendency to self-criticism act as potential moderator variables. It is expected that positive self-view as well as stronger group cohesion will lead to subsequent symptom improvement. Additionally, it is expected that reciprocal relations between symptom severity with both positive self-view and group cohesion will be found. For the above described purposes, data of ca. 1500 adult patients will be used that has been obtained over the course of an (usually) 8-week inpatient psychotherapeutic treatment in the years 2015 to 2021 in Heidelberg University Hospital. Patients filled in pre- as well as post-treatment questionnaires of psychotherapy outcome measures and took part in weekly questionnaire assessments of clinically relevant process variables over the course of treatment. Therefore, data analysis will be performed using the described longitudinal panel data. To examine the influence of positive self-view on symptom severity as well as the interplay of self-view and group cohesion random-intercept cross-lagged dynamic panel models (RI-CLPM) will be used. To investigate potential moderator variables of the relation between self-efficacy and treatment outcome moderated multilevel regression models will be calculated. Thus, the general aim of this study is to shed more light on process variables and patient characteristics that might play a role in the psychotherapeutic inpatient treatment.