| Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (de Shazer & Berg, 1997) is rapidly becoming an accepted form of therapy within the field of counseling psychology. However, criticisms lodged against this approach indicate little empirical evidence has been found to support its effectiveness (Miller, 1994). Additionally, some writers have raised concerns regarding the lack of emphasis on the therapeutic relationship (Coyne, 1994). This study compared levels of working alliance and change in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) to an Interpersonally Based Brief Therapy (IBBT Mallinckrodt, 1993). The purpose of this study was to investigate three research questions. First, does SFBT show comparable levels of the working alliance to those of other empirically supported brief therapy models (in this case, IBBT)? Second, are measures of therapy outcome comparable to those found in other empirically supported forms of brief therapy (in this case, IBBT)? Third, is the relationship between the working alliance and outcome in SFBT comparable to that found in other forms of empirically supported brief therapy (in this case, IBBT)?;Assessment instruments included the Working Alliance Inventory (Horvath & Greenberg, 1986) as a measure of the working alliance, and the Brief Symptom Inventory (Derogatis, 1993), the Target Concerns Questionnaire, and the Counseling Center Follow-Up Questionnaire (Gelso & Johnson, 1983) as measures of outcome.;Results indicated that SFBT had equivalent or higher levels of working alliance across therapy measurement periods as compared to IBBT, and that SFBT had comparable levels of therapeutic outcome as compared to IBBT. However, while a strong relationship was found between levels of the working alliance and outcome within the IBBT approach, no such relationship was found within SFBT approach. Implications of these results are discussed. |
