Therapeutic Alliance: Difference between revisions

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The therapeutic alliance was first described by Freud in 1912, in which he outlined the concepts of transference and countertransference, which are the unconscious feelings or emotions that a patient feels towards their therapist, and vice-versa (Freud S. The Dynamics of Transference. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. 1912;XII (1911-1913):97-108.).&nbsp;<ref name="Freud">Freud S. The Dynamics of Transference. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. 1912;XII (1911-1913):97-108.</ref> Further research by Rogers (Rogers C. Client-centered therapy. 1st ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1951) was the first to highlight empathy as a core characteristic of this therapeutic alliance,&nbsp;<ref name="Rogers">Rogers C. Client-centered therapy. 1st ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1951</ref> and Anderson (Anderson R, Anderson G. Development of an instrument for measuring rapport. The Personnel and Guidance Journal. 1962;41(1):18-24) conceptualized both empathy and rapport as qualities within the “therapeutic bond”.&nbsp;<ref name="Anderson">Anderson R, Anderson G. Development of an instrument for measuring rapport. The Personnel and Guidance Journal. 1962;41(1):18-24</ref> Hougaard (Hougaard E. The therapeutic alliance–A conceptual analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 1994;35(1):67-85.) consolidated previous data into a conceptual structure composed of two branches, the personal relationship area and the collaborative area. <ref name="Hougaard">Hougaard E. The therapeutic alliance–A conceptual analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 1994;35(1):67-85.</ref>The personal relationship area focuses on the socio-emotional aspect of the therapist-patient relationship, while the collaborative relationship area consists of more task-related aspects, such as goal-setting and treatment planning. It was Martin, Garske and Davis (Martin D, Garske J, Davis M. Relation of the therapeutic alliance with outcome and other variables: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000;68(3):438-450) that concretely described the therapeutic alliance as “…the collaborative and affective bond between therapist and patient – is an essential element of the therapeutic process.” <ref name="Martin">Martin D, Garske J, Davis M. Relation of the therapeutic alliance with outcome and other variables: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000;68(3):438-450</ref>
The therapeutic alliance was first described by Freud in 1912, in which he outlined the concepts of transference and countertransference, which are the unconscious feelings or emotions that a patient feels towards their therapist, and vice-versa (Freud S. The Dynamics of Transference. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. 1912;XII (1911-1913):97-108.).&nbsp;<ref name="Freud">Freud S. The Dynamics of Transference. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. 1912;XII (1911-1913):97-108.</ref> Further research by Rogers (Rogers C. Client-centered therapy. 1st ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1951) was the first to highlight empathy as a core characteristic of this therapeutic alliance,&nbsp;<ref name="Rogers">Rogers C. Client-centered therapy. 1st ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1951</ref> and Anderson (Anderson R, Anderson G. Development of an instrument for measuring rapport. The Personnel and Guidance Journal. 1962;41(1):18-24) conceptualized both empathy and rapport as qualities within the “therapeutic bond”.&nbsp;<ref name="Anderson">Anderson R, Anderson G. Development of an instrument for measuring rapport. The Personnel and Guidance Journal. 1962;41(1):18-24</ref> Hougaard (Hougaard E. The therapeutic alliance–A conceptual analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 1994;35(1):67-85.) consolidated previous data into a conceptual structure composed of two branches, the personal relationship area and the collaborative area. <ref name="Hougaard">Hougaard E. The therapeutic alliance–A conceptual analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 1994;35(1):67-85.</ref>The personal relationship area focuses on the socio-emotional aspect of the therapist-patient relationship, while the collaborative relationship area consists of more task-related aspects, such as goal-setting and treatment planning. It was Martin, Garske and Davis (Martin D, Garske J, Davis M. Relation of the therapeutic alliance with outcome and other variables: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000;68(3):438-450) that concretely described the therapeutic alliance as “…the collaborative and affective bond between therapist and patient – is an essential element of the therapeutic process.” <ref name="Martin">Martin D, Garske J, Davis M. Relation of the therapeutic alliance with outcome and other variables: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000;68(3):438-450</ref>


= Establishing a Therapeutic Alliance =
= Establishing a Therapeutic Alliance =


Good communicative skills are an integral tool to achieving a strong therapeutic alliance (http://www.physio-pedia.com/Effective_communication_techniques), and research has shown that effective communication also leads to increased patient adherence and satisfaction (Gyllensten A, Gard G, Salford E, Ekdahl C. Interaction between patient and physiotherapist: a qualitative study reflecting the physiotherapist's perspective. Physiotherapy Research International. 1999;4(2):89-109.). Mead and Bower (2000) identified five key dimensions of patient-centered care, which have been associated with a positive therapeutic alliance (Pinto R, Ferreira M, Oliveira V, Franco M, Adams R, Maher C et al. Patient-centred communication is associated with positive therapeutic alliance: a systematic review. Journal of Physiotherapy. 2012;58(2):77-87. ):  
[[Effective_communication_techniques|Good communicative skills]] are an integral tool to achieving a strong therapeutic alliance and research has shown that effective communication also leads to increased patient adherence and satisfaction (Gyllensten A, Gard G, Salford E, Ekdahl C. Interaction between patient and physiotherapist: a qualitative study reflecting the physiotherapist's perspective. Physiotherapy Research International. 1999;4(2):89-109.).&nbsp;<ref name="Gyllensten">Gyllensten A, Gard G, Salford E, Ekdahl C. Interaction between patient and physiotherapist: a qualitative study reflecting the physiotherapist's perspective. Physiotherapy Research International. 1999;4(2):89-109.</ref> Mead and Bower (2000) identified five key dimensions of patient-centered care, which have been associated with a positive therapeutic alliance (Pinto R, Ferreira M, Oliveira V, Franco M, Adams R, Maher C et al. Patient-centred communication is associated with positive therapeutic alliance: a systematic review. Journal of Physiotherapy. 2012;58(2):77-87. ):&nbsp;<ref name="Pinto">Pinto R, Ferreira M, Oliveira V, Franco M, Adams R, Maher C et al. Patient-centred communication is associated with positive therapeutic alliance: a systematic review. Journal of Physiotherapy. 2012;58(2):77-87.</ref>


*Utilizing a biopsychosocial perspective: Several conditions treated by physical therapists appear to have little relation to structural or physiological changes, which can themselves be interpreted with high variability (Rogers A, Nicolaas G, Hassell K. Demanding patients?. 1st ed. Buckingham [etc.]: Open University Press; 1999, Deyo R, Weinstein J. Low Back Pain. New England Journal of Medicine. 2001;344(5):363-370, Herzog R, Elgort D, Flanders A, Moley P. Variability in diagnostic error rates of 10 MRI centers performing lumbar spine MRI examinations on the same patient within a 3-week period. The Spine Journal. 2017;17(4):554-561). Thus, an approach that considers not only biological, but also psychological and sociological factors as well, is needed to appreciate the full scope of the problems presented and provide patient-centered care (Silverman D. Communication and medical practice. 1st ed. Inglaterra: Sage Publications; 1987.).  
*Utilizing a biopsychosocial perspective: Several conditions treated by physical therapists appear to have little relation to structural or physiological changes, which can themselves be interpreted with high variability (Rogers A, Nicolaas G, Hassell K. Demanding patients?. 1st ed. Buckingham [etc.]: Open University Press; 1999, Deyo R, Weinstein J. Low Back Pain. New England Journal of Medicine. 2001;344(5):363-370, Herzog R, Elgort D, Flanders A, Moley P. Variability in diagnostic error rates of 10 MRI centers performing lumbar spine MRI examinations on the same patient within a 3-week period. The Spine Journal. 2017;17(4):554-561).&nbsp;<ref name="Rogers 1999">Rogers A, Nicolaas G, Hassell K. Demanding patients?. 1st ed. Buckingham [etc.]: Open University Press; 1999</ref> <ref name="Deyo">Deyo R, Weinstein J. Low Back Pain. New England Journal of Medicine. 2001;344(5):363-370</ref>&nbsp;<ref name="Herzog">Herzog R, Elgort D, Flanders A, Moley P. Variability in diagnostic error rates of 10 MRI centers performing lumbar spine MRI examinations on the same patient within a 3-week period. The Spine Journal. 2017;17(4):554-561</ref> Thus, an approach that considers not only biological, but also psychological and sociological factors as well, is needed to appreciate the full scope of the problems presented and provide patient-centered care (Silverman D. Communication and medical practice. 1st ed. Inglaterra: Sage Publications; 1987.). <ref name="Silverman">Silverman D. Communication and medical practice. 1st ed. Inglaterra: Sage Publications; 1987.</ref>
*The ‘patient-as-person: Although the biopsychosocial model seeks to address all of the factors surrounding the patient, it may not be sufficient to fully appreciate the patient experience (Armstrong D. The emancipation of biographical medicine. Social Science & Medicine Part A: Medical Psychology & Medical Sociology. 1979;13:1-8). We need to understand that each patient may perceive the same pain experience differently, and that eliciting the individual patient’s fears, expectations and feelings of illness should be one of our primary concerns (Levenstein J, McCracken E, McWhinney I, Stewart M, Brown J. The Patient-Centred Clinical Method. 1. A Model for the Doctor-Patient Interaction in Family Medicine. Family Practice. 1986;3(1):24-30)
*The ‘patient-as-person: Although the biopsychosocial model seeks to address all of the factors surrounding the patient, it may not be sufficient to fully appreciate the patient experience (Armstrong D. The emancipation of biographical medicine. Social Science &amp; Medicine Part A: Medical Psychology &amp; Medical Sociology. 1979;13:1-8).&nbsp;<ref name="Armstrong">Armstrong D. The emancipation of biographical medicine. Social Science &amp; Medicine Part A: Medical Psychology &amp; Medical Sociology. 1979;13:1-8</ref> We need to understand that each patient may perceive the same pain experience differently, and that eliciting the individual patient’s fears, expectations and feelings of illness should be one of our primary concerns (Levenstein J, McCracken E, McWhinney I, Stewart M, Brown J. The Patient-Centred Clinical Method. 1. A Model for the Doctor-Patient Interaction in Family Medicine. Family Practice. 1986;3(1):24-30) <ref name="Levenstein">Levenstein J, McCracken E, McWhinney I, Stewart M, Brown J. The Patient-Centred Clinical Method. 1. A Model for the Doctor-Patient Interaction in Family Medicine. Family Practice. 1986;3(1):24-30</ref>
*Sharing power and responsibility: The patient-practitioner relationship has always been fundamentally seen as an ‘paternalistic’ relationship, which some see as an inevitability due to the competence gap between them (Parsons T, Smelser N. The social system. 1st ed. New Orleans, La.: Quid Pro Books; 2012). By shifting patients from ‘consumers’ to active ‘participants’, we can help place patients in control of their own illness, and this has been correlated with better health outcomes (Kaplan S, Greenfield S, Ware J. Assessing the Effects of Physician-Patient Interactions on the Outcomes of Chronic Disease. Medical Care. 1989;27(Supplement):S110-S127).
*Sharing power and responsibility: The patient-practitioner relationship has always been fundamentally seen as an ‘paternalistic’ relationship, which some see as an inevitability due to the competence gap between them (Parsons T, Smelser N. The social system. 1st ed. New Orleans, La.: Quid Pro Books; 2012).&nbsp;<ref name="Parsons">Parsons T, Smelser N. The social system. 1st ed. New Orleans, La.: Quid Pro Books; 2012</ref> By shifting patients from ‘consumers’ to active ‘participants’, we can help place patients in control of their own illness, and this has been correlated with better health outcomes (Kaplan S, Greenfield S, Ware J. Assessing the Effects of Physician-Patient Interactions on the Outcomes of Chronic Disease. Medical Care. 1989;27(Supplement):S110-S127). <ref name="Kaplan">Kaplan S, Greenfield S, Ware J. Assessing the Effects of Physician-Patient Interactions on the Outcomes of Chronic Disease. Medical Care. 1989;27(Supplement):S110-S127</ref>
*The therapeutic alliance: Just as patient-centered care can strengthen the therapeutic alliance, the reciprocal relationship can also occur. Bordin (Bordin E. The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice. 1979;16(3):252-260) described the three main components of the therapeutic alliance as 1) agreement on goals, 2) agreement on interventions, 3) affective bond between patient and therapist. The only difference is that patient-centeredness has traditionally focused on the doctor’s role, whereas the therapeutic alliance is the relationship between doctor-patient (Lipkin M. The Medical Interview: A Core Curriculum for Residencies in Internal Medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1984;100(2):277, Smith R. The Patient's Story: Integrating the Patient- and Physician-centered Approaches to Interviewing. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1991;115(6):470). In practice, the two concepts are intertwined and difficult to elicit as separate distinct components.  
*The therapeutic alliance: Just as patient-centered care can strengthen the therapeutic alliance, the reciprocal relationship can also occur. Bordin (Bordin E. The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research &amp; Practice. 1979;16(3):252-260) described the three main components of the therapeutic alliance as 1) agreement on goals, 2) agreement on interventions, 3) affective bond between patient and therapist.&nbsp;<ref name="Bordin">Bordin E. The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research &amp; Practice. 1979;16(3):252-260</ref> The only difference is that patient-centeredness has traditionally focused on the doctor’s role, whereas the therapeutic alliance is the relationship between doctor-patient (Lipkin M. The Medical Interview: A Core Curriculum for Residencies in Internal Medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1984;100(2):277, Smith R. The Patient's Story: Integrating the Patient- and Physician-centered Approaches to Interviewing. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1991;115(6):470).&nbsp;<ref name="Lipkin">Lipkin M. The Medical Interview: A Core Curriculum for Residencies in Internal Medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1984;100(2):277</ref>&nbsp;<ref name="Smith">Smith R. The Patient's Story: Integrating the Patient- and Physician-centered Approaches to Interviewing. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1991;115(6):470</ref> In practice, the two concepts are intertwined and difficult to elicit as separate distinct components.  
*The ‘doctor-as-person’: Since both the therapeutic alliance and patient-centered care acknowledge the relationship between both therapist and patient, it is thus logical to also place importance of the qualities of the therapist. The interaction between therapist and patient is constant, and the subjectivity of the therapist is something that cannot be separated from this interaction (Balint E., Courtenay M., Elder A., Hull S., Julian P. The doctor, the patient and the group: Balint re-visited. 1st ed. London: Routledge; 1993).
*The ‘doctor-as-person’: Since both the therapeutic alliance and patient-centered care acknowledge the relationship between both therapist and patient, it is thus logical to also place importance of the qualities of the therapist. The interaction between therapist and patient is constant, and the subjectivity of the therapist is something that cannot be separated from this interaction (Balint E., Courtenay M., Elder A., Hull S., Julian P. The doctor, the patient and the group: Balint re-visited. 1st ed. London: Routledge; 1993). <ref name="Balint">Balint E., Courtenay M., Elder A., Hull S., Julian P. The doctor, the patient and the group: Balint re-visited. 1st ed. London: Routledge; 1993</ref>


<br>


== Effect on patient outcomes  ==
== Effect on patient outcomes  ==


The therapeutic alliance has previously been shown to improve patient outcomes in both medicine (Kao A, Green D, Davis N, Koplan J, Cleary P. Patients’ trust in their physicians. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 1998;13(10):681-686) as well as psychology (Bachelor A. Comparison and relationship to outcome of diverse dimensions of the helping alliance as seen by client and therapist. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training. 1991;28(4):534-549, Barber J, Connolly M, Crits-Christoph P, Gladis L, Siqueland L. Alliance predicts patients' outcome beyond in-treatment change in symptoms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000;68(6):1027-1032, Gaston L, Piper W, Debbane E, Bienvenu J, Garant J. Alliance and Technique for Predicting Outcome in Short-and Long-Term Analytic Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy Research. 1994;4(2):121-135). It is only recently that investigation has been made into its effects in other rehabilitative sciences. Burns and Evon (Burns J, Evon D. Common and specific process factors in cardiac rehabilitation: Independent and interactive effects of the working alliance and self-efficacy. Health Psychology. 2007;26(6):684-692) studied its effect in cardiac rehabilitation, and found that increased self-efficacy is not enough of a factor to predict increase cardiorespiratory fitness, weight reduction and return to work. Instead, it must be combined with a strong therapeutic alliance to achieve these outcomes, and a poor therapeutic alliance can undermine the potential for improvement.
The therapeutic alliance has previously been shown to improve patient outcomes in both medicine (Kao A, Green D, Davis N, Koplan J, Cleary P. Patients’ trust in their physicians. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 1998;13(10):681-686) as well as psychology (Bachelor A. Comparison and relationship to outcome of diverse dimensions of the helping alliance as seen by client and therapist. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training. 1991;28(4):534-549, Barber J, Connolly M, Crits-Christoph P, Gladis L, Siqueland L. Alliance predicts patients' outcome beyond in-treatment change in symptoms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000;68(6):1027-1032, Gaston L, Piper W, Debbane E, Bienvenu J, Garant J. Alliance and Technique for Predicting Outcome in Short-and Long-Term Analytic Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy Research. 1994;4(2):121-135). It is only recently that investigation has been made into its effects in other rehabilitative sciences. Burns and Evon (Burns J, Evon D. Common and specific process factors in cardiac rehabilitation: Independent and interactive effects of the working alliance and self-efficacy. Health Psychology. 2007;26(6):684-692) studied its effect in cardiac rehabilitation, and found that increased self-efficacy is not enough of a factor to predict increase cardiorespiratory fitness, weight reduction and return to work. Instead, it must be combined with a strong therapeutic alliance to achieve these outcomes, and a poor therapeutic alliance can undermine the potential for improvement. Ferreira and colleagues (Ferreira P, Ferreira M, Maher C, Refshauge K, Latimer J, Adams R. The Therapeutic Alliance Between Clinicians and Patients Predicts Outcome in Chronic Low Back Pain. Physical Therapy. 2012;93(4):470-478) examined the relationship between therapeutic alliance and patient outcomes on rehabilitation of patients with chronic low back pain. They found that a strong therapeutic alliance lead to increased perceived changes following a variety of conservative treatments. Interestingly, a strong therapeutic alliance was associated with improved disability and function outcome measures, but not pain. Fuentes et al. (Fuentes J, Armijo-Olivo S, Funabashi M, et al. Enhanced therapeutic alliance modulates pain intensity and muscle pain sensitivity in patients with chronic low back pain: an experimental controlled study. Phys Ther. 2013;94:477-489. Physical Therapy. 2014;94(5):740-740) also conducted a study utilizing patients with low back pain, this time measuring the therapeutic alliance’s effect on pain intensity and muscle pain sensitivity. The results showed that a strong therapeutic alliance can significantly modify perceived pain intensity after IFC treatments, which are displayed below. Another point of interest is the active IFC with limited therapeutic alliance was not statistically different than a sham IFC with strong therapeutic alliance.  
Ferreira and colleagues (Ferreira P, Ferreira M, Maher C, Refshauge K, Latimer J, Adams R. The Therapeutic Alliance Between Clinicians and Patients Predicts Outcome in Chronic Low Back Pain. Physical Therapy. 2012;93(4):470-478) examined the relationship between therapeutic alliance and patient outcomes on rehabilitation of patients with chronic low back pain. They found that a strong therapeutic alliance lead to increased perceived changes following a variety of conservative treatments. Interestingly, a strong therapeutic alliance was associated with improved disability and function outcome measures, but not pain. Fuentes et al. (Fuentes J, Armijo-Olivo S, Funabashi M, et al. Enhanced therapeutic alliance modulates pain intensity and muscle pain sensitivity in patients with chronic low back pain: an experimental controlled study. Phys Ther. 2013;94:477-489. Physical Therapy. 2014;94(5):740-740) also conducted a study utilizing patients with low back pain, this time measuring the therapeutic alliance’s effect on pain intensity and muscle pain sensitivity. The results showed that a strong therapeutic alliance can significantly modify perceived pain intensity after IFC treatments, which are displayed below. Another point of interest is the active IFC with limited therapeutic alliance was not statistically different than a sham IFC with strong therapeutic alliance.


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AL: Active IFC, Limited TA. SL: Sham IFC, Limited TA. AE: Active IFC, Enhanced TA. SE: Sham IFC, Enhanced TA


AL: Active IFC, Limited TA. SL: Sham IFC, Limited TA. AE: Active IFC, Enhanced TA. SE: Sham IFC, Enhanced TA


= References  =
= References  =

Revision as of 17:47, 26 May 2017

Original Editor - Laura Ritchie, posting on behalf of Wei Seah, MPT Class of 2017 at Western University, project for PT9584.

Top Contributors - Laura Ritchie, Kim Jackson, Mandy Roscher, Ewa Jaraczewska, Wanda van Niekerk, Naomi O'Reilly, Jess Bell, Robin Tacchetti, Evan Thomas and Vidya Acharya  

Introduction[edit | edit source]

The therapeutic alliance (also referred to as the working alliance) is a description of the interaction between the physiotherapist and their patients. By establishing a therapeutic alliance, the therapist then seeks to provide patient-centered care, in which the therapist as seen as a facilitator for the patient to achieve their goals, rather than an authority figure (Walton D, Dhir J, Millard J. Introduction and Application of the CARE Model in Physiotherapy Practice. Presentation presented at; 2016; London, Ontario, Canada.). [1] Previous research has highlighted the importance of providing patient-centered care not only in physiotherapy, but other medical professions as well (Mead N, Bower P. Patient-centredness: a conceptual framework and review of the empirical literature. Social Science & Medicine. 2000;51(7):1087-1110.). [2] This is accomplished by encouraging the patient to become more active in their treatment to engage them in a collaborative, active approach to recovery (Epstein & Street). By establishing a strong therapeutic alliance and encouraging patient participation, therapists can also seek to address psychosocial aspects of pain (Gatchel R, Peng Y, Peters M, Fuchs P, Turk D. The biopsychosocial approach to chronic pain: Scientific advances and future directions. Psychological Bulletin. 2007;133(4):581-624.), [3] which are often overlooked in traditional unidirectional patient-therapist interactions. This is especially important as recent research supports that the physical treatment alone cannot fully account for improvement of patient outcomes (Ambady N, Koo J, Rosenthal R, Winograd C. Physical therapists' nonverbal communication predicts geriatric patients' health outcomes. Psychology and Aging. 2002;17(3):443-452.). [4]

[5]

Background[edit | edit source]

The therapeutic alliance was first described by Freud in 1912, in which he outlined the concepts of transference and countertransference, which are the unconscious feelings or emotions that a patient feels towards their therapist, and vice-versa (Freud S. The Dynamics of Transference. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. 1912;XII (1911-1913):97-108.). [6] Further research by Rogers (Rogers C. Client-centered therapy. 1st ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1951) was the first to highlight empathy as a core characteristic of this therapeutic alliance, [7] and Anderson (Anderson R, Anderson G. Development of an instrument for measuring rapport. The Personnel and Guidance Journal. 1962;41(1):18-24) conceptualized both empathy and rapport as qualities within the “therapeutic bond”. [8] Hougaard (Hougaard E. The therapeutic alliance–A conceptual analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 1994;35(1):67-85.) consolidated previous data into a conceptual structure composed of two branches, the personal relationship area and the collaborative area. [9]The personal relationship area focuses on the socio-emotional aspect of the therapist-patient relationship, while the collaborative relationship area consists of more task-related aspects, such as goal-setting and treatment planning. It was Martin, Garske and Davis (Martin D, Garske J, Davis M. Relation of the therapeutic alliance with outcome and other variables: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000;68(3):438-450) that concretely described the therapeutic alliance as “…the collaborative and affective bond between therapist and patient – is an essential element of the therapeutic process.” [10]

Establishing a Therapeutic Alliance[edit | edit source]

Good communicative skills are an integral tool to achieving a strong therapeutic alliance and research has shown that effective communication also leads to increased patient adherence and satisfaction (Gyllensten A, Gard G, Salford E, Ekdahl C. Interaction between patient and physiotherapist: a qualitative study reflecting the physiotherapist's perspective. Physiotherapy Research International. 1999;4(2):89-109.). [11] Mead and Bower (2000) identified five key dimensions of patient-centered care, which have been associated with a positive therapeutic alliance (Pinto R, Ferreira M, Oliveira V, Franco M, Adams R, Maher C et al. Patient-centred communication is associated with positive therapeutic alliance: a systematic review. Journal of Physiotherapy. 2012;58(2):77-87. ): [12]

  • Utilizing a biopsychosocial perspective: Several conditions treated by physical therapists appear to have little relation to structural or physiological changes, which can themselves be interpreted with high variability (Rogers A, Nicolaas G, Hassell K. Demanding patients?. 1st ed. Buckingham [etc.]: Open University Press; 1999, Deyo R, Weinstein J. Low Back Pain. New England Journal of Medicine. 2001;344(5):363-370, Herzog R, Elgort D, Flanders A, Moley P. Variability in diagnostic error rates of 10 MRI centers performing lumbar spine MRI examinations on the same patient within a 3-week period. The Spine Journal. 2017;17(4):554-561). [13] [14] [15] Thus, an approach that considers not only biological, but also psychological and sociological factors as well, is needed to appreciate the full scope of the problems presented and provide patient-centered care (Silverman D. Communication and medical practice. 1st ed. Inglaterra: Sage Publications; 1987.). [16]
  • The ‘patient-as-person: Although the biopsychosocial model seeks to address all of the factors surrounding the patient, it may not be sufficient to fully appreciate the patient experience (Armstrong D. The emancipation of biographical medicine. Social Science & Medicine Part A: Medical Psychology & Medical Sociology. 1979;13:1-8). [17] We need to understand that each patient may perceive the same pain experience differently, and that eliciting the individual patient’s fears, expectations and feelings of illness should be one of our primary concerns (Levenstein J, McCracken E, McWhinney I, Stewart M, Brown J. The Patient-Centred Clinical Method. 1. A Model for the Doctor-Patient Interaction in Family Medicine. Family Practice. 1986;3(1):24-30) [18]
  • Sharing power and responsibility: The patient-practitioner relationship has always been fundamentally seen as an ‘paternalistic’ relationship, which some see as an inevitability due to the competence gap between them (Parsons T, Smelser N. The social system. 1st ed. New Orleans, La.: Quid Pro Books; 2012). [19] By shifting patients from ‘consumers’ to active ‘participants’, we can help place patients in control of their own illness, and this has been correlated with better health outcomes (Kaplan S, Greenfield S, Ware J. Assessing the Effects of Physician-Patient Interactions on the Outcomes of Chronic Disease. Medical Care. 1989;27(Supplement):S110-S127). [20]
  • The therapeutic alliance: Just as patient-centered care can strengthen the therapeutic alliance, the reciprocal relationship can also occur. Bordin (Bordin E. The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice. 1979;16(3):252-260) described the three main components of the therapeutic alliance as 1) agreement on goals, 2) agreement on interventions, 3) affective bond between patient and therapist. [21] The only difference is that patient-centeredness has traditionally focused on the doctor’s role, whereas the therapeutic alliance is the relationship between doctor-patient (Lipkin M. The Medical Interview: A Core Curriculum for Residencies in Internal Medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1984;100(2):277, Smith R. The Patient's Story: Integrating the Patient- and Physician-centered Approaches to Interviewing. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1991;115(6):470). [22] [23] In practice, the two concepts are intertwined and difficult to elicit as separate distinct components.
  • The ‘doctor-as-person’: Since both the therapeutic alliance and patient-centered care acknowledge the relationship between both therapist and patient, it is thus logical to also place importance of the qualities of the therapist. The interaction between therapist and patient is constant, and the subjectivity of the therapist is something that cannot be separated from this interaction (Balint E., Courtenay M., Elder A., Hull S., Julian P. The doctor, the patient and the group: Balint re-visited. 1st ed. London: Routledge; 1993). [24]


Effect on patient outcomes[edit | edit source]

The therapeutic alliance has previously been shown to improve patient outcomes in both medicine (Kao A, Green D, Davis N, Koplan J, Cleary P. Patients’ trust in their physicians. Journal of General Internal Medicine. 1998;13(10):681-686) as well as psychology (Bachelor A. Comparison and relationship to outcome of diverse dimensions of the helping alliance as seen by client and therapist. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training. 1991;28(4):534-549, Barber J, Connolly M, Crits-Christoph P, Gladis L, Siqueland L. Alliance predicts patients' outcome beyond in-treatment change in symptoms. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000;68(6):1027-1032, Gaston L, Piper W, Debbane E, Bienvenu J, Garant J. Alliance and Technique for Predicting Outcome in Short-and Long-Term Analytic Psychotherapy. Psychotherapy Research. 1994;4(2):121-135). It is only recently that investigation has been made into its effects in other rehabilitative sciences. Burns and Evon (Burns J, Evon D. Common and specific process factors in cardiac rehabilitation: Independent and interactive effects of the working alliance and self-efficacy. Health Psychology. 2007;26(6):684-692) studied its effect in cardiac rehabilitation, and found that increased self-efficacy is not enough of a factor to predict increase cardiorespiratory fitness, weight reduction and return to work. Instead, it must be combined with a strong therapeutic alliance to achieve these outcomes, and a poor therapeutic alliance can undermine the potential for improvement. Ferreira and colleagues (Ferreira P, Ferreira M, Maher C, Refshauge K, Latimer J, Adams R. The Therapeutic Alliance Between Clinicians and Patients Predicts Outcome in Chronic Low Back Pain. Physical Therapy. 2012;93(4):470-478) examined the relationship between therapeutic alliance and patient outcomes on rehabilitation of patients with chronic low back pain. They found that a strong therapeutic alliance lead to increased perceived changes following a variety of conservative treatments. Interestingly, a strong therapeutic alliance was associated with improved disability and function outcome measures, but not pain. Fuentes et al. (Fuentes J, Armijo-Olivo S, Funabashi M, et al. Enhanced therapeutic alliance modulates pain intensity and muscle pain sensitivity in patients with chronic low back pain: an experimental controlled study. Phys Ther. 2013;94:477-489. Physical Therapy. 2014;94(5):740-740) also conducted a study utilizing patients with low back pain, this time measuring the therapeutic alliance’s effect on pain intensity and muscle pain sensitivity. The results showed that a strong therapeutic alliance can significantly modify perceived pain intensity after IFC treatments, which are displayed below. Another point of interest is the active IFC with limited therapeutic alliance was not statistically different than a sham IFC with strong therapeutic alliance.

https://oup.silverchair-cdn.com/oup/backfile/Content_public/Journal/ptj/94/4/10.2522_ptj.20130118/3/ptj0477-fig002.jpeg?Expires=1495735751&Signature=CqXTiN6JQjyLdsT-K~4VWn5jCEO38LN9MpfUafNAPQeghIW0eAZ1WpU6N-Qh~6Fk1Yv~TfKDGMwzla0kCjzFpC4L6SjXwOK0OW5u01X94gG5SGzPFpzkTFvXFJWF~dbTPKCMFlJ6RRt4n3PrGi0gLz~oeXCB3sVVomU3ycglGX9lMghAes2Dh9FwuTd5vaPsztg48nf2Q48uEAy-ZHm4z8q4VT2X5ALEuOt3We0GP~d0LsxmyJFv2Alb5shM1~MRu1WtwZnafD2XnvPMSfuYbSL8K40s0EBCotUm~VkGC9fCDQwW-AbR5umSEVk9v3fAC6qU28hWPHGrbVJjFMVcdw__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAIUCZBIA4LVPAVW3Q

AL: Active IFC, Limited TA. SL: Sham IFC, Limited TA. AE: Active IFC, Enhanced TA. SE: Sham IFC, Enhanced TA

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Walton D, Dhir J, Millard J. Introduction and Application of the CARE Model in Physiotherapy Practice. Presentation presented at; 2016; London, Ontario, Canada
  2. ↑ Mead N, Bower P. Patient-centredness: a conceptual framework and review of the empirical literature. Social Science & Medicine. 2000;51(7):1087-1110.
  3. ↑ Gatchel R, Peng Y, Peters M, Fuchs P, Turk D. The biopsychosocial approach to chronic pain: Scientific advances and future directions. Psychological Bulletin. 2007;133(4):581-624.
  4. ↑ Ambady N, Koo J, Rosenthal R, Winograd C. Physical therapists' nonverbal communication predicts geriatric patients' health outcomes. Psychology and Aging. 2002;17(3):443-452.
  5. ↑ PsychotherapyNet. Clinical Interviewing: Intake, Assessment & Therapeutic Alliance Video. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViQeF1Glz34 [last accessed 26/05/2017]
  6. ↑ Freud S. The Dynamics of Transference. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud. 1912;XII (1911-1913):97-108.
  7. ↑ Rogers C. Client-centered therapy. 1st ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin; 1951
  8. ↑ Anderson R, Anderson G. Development of an instrument for measuring rapport. The Personnel and Guidance Journal. 1962;41(1):18-24
  9. ↑ Hougaard E. The therapeutic alliance–A conceptual analysis. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology. 1994;35(1):67-85.
  10. ↑ Martin D, Garske J, Davis M. Relation of the therapeutic alliance with outcome and other variables: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 2000;68(3):438-450
  11. ↑ Gyllensten A, Gard G, Salford E, Ekdahl C. Interaction between patient and physiotherapist: a qualitative study reflecting the physiotherapist's perspective. Physiotherapy Research International. 1999;4(2):89-109.
  12. ↑ Pinto R, Ferreira M, Oliveira V, Franco M, Adams R, Maher C et al. Patient-centred communication is associated with positive therapeutic alliance: a systematic review. Journal of Physiotherapy. 2012;58(2):77-87.
  13. ↑ Rogers A, Nicolaas G, Hassell K. Demanding patients?. 1st ed. Buckingham [etc.]: Open University Press; 1999
  14. ↑ Deyo R, Weinstein J. Low Back Pain. New England Journal of Medicine. 2001;344(5):363-370
  15. ↑ Herzog R, Elgort D, Flanders A, Moley P. Variability in diagnostic error rates of 10 MRI centers performing lumbar spine MRI examinations on the same patient within a 3-week period. The Spine Journal. 2017;17(4):554-561
  16. ↑ Silverman D. Communication and medical practice. 1st ed. Inglaterra: Sage Publications; 1987.
  17. ↑ Armstrong D. The emancipation of biographical medicine. Social Science & Medicine Part A: Medical Psychology & Medical Sociology. 1979;13:1-8
  18. ↑ Levenstein J, McCracken E, McWhinney I, Stewart M, Brown J. The Patient-Centred Clinical Method. 1. A Model for the Doctor-Patient Interaction in Family Medicine. Family Practice. 1986;3(1):24-30
  19. ↑ Parsons T, Smelser N. The social system. 1st ed. New Orleans, La.: Quid Pro Books; 2012
  20. ↑ Kaplan S, Greenfield S, Ware J. Assessing the Effects of Physician-Patient Interactions on the Outcomes of Chronic Disease. Medical Care. 1989;27(Supplement):S110-S127
  21. ↑ Bordin E. The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice. 1979;16(3):252-260
  22. ↑ Lipkin M. The Medical Interview: A Core Curriculum for Residencies in Internal Medicine. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1984;100(2):277
  23. ↑ Smith R. The Patient's Story: Integrating the Patient- and Physician-centered Approaches to Interviewing. Annals of Internal Medicine. 1991;115(6):470
  24. ↑ Balint E., Courtenay M., Elder A., Hull S., Julian P. The doctor, the patient and the group: Balint re-visited. 1st ed. London: Routledge; 1993
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