Date of Award

Spring 8-1-2004

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Communication Disorders and Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology

First Advisor

Michele C. Boyer

Second Advisor

Reece Chaney

Third Advisor

Jolynn Kuhlman

Abstract

This study examined whether the level of functioning (high vs. low) of individuals in Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) group affected their preference for Yalom's therapeutic factors. Additionally, an attempt was made to replicate past research by reducing Yalom's twelve therapeutic factors to a smaller number of overarching factors. Finally, an attempt was made to extract a new factor structure that differs from Yalom' s factor modet'and reflects the experiences of clients in PHP group. One hundred and fifteen participants who receive PHP treatment from a large community mental health center in western and central Indiana were administered Yalom's Therapeutic Factor Questionnaire in a Likert format. A principal components analysis that included all twelve therapeutic factors failed to yield a factor structure similar to the therapeutic factor categories, which had been developed by earlier research using data from outpatient group members and therapists. A principal components analysis that included all 60 of the questionnaire items yielded an I I-factor structure that varies from Yalom's existing factor model. Although the data used for these analyses mildly violated assumptions of homogeneity of variance, linearity, and homoscedasticity, the results are still considered to provide evidence for a difference in the way PHP clients and outpatient clients experience the therapeutic aspects of group treatment. The new factor structure yielded by the principal components analysis was utilized in performing a multivariate analysis of variance Results of the MANOV A revealed no significant effect for level of functioning and the twelve therapeutic factors.

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