Date of Award:

5-2006

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Psychology

Committee Chair(s)

Gretchen Gimpel Peacock

Committee

Gretchen Gimpel Peacock

Committee

David Stein

Committee

Scott Deberard

Committee

Melanie Domenech-Rodriguez

Abstract

Youth with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have higher rates of depression than healthy youth. A cognitive-behavioral treatment, primary and secondary control enhancement training-physical illness (PASCET-PI), for depressed adolescents with IBD was associated with reductions in depressive symptoms. The purpose of this study was to examine the salience of nonspecific processes (factors inherent in any human relationship) and specific processes (factors related to therapy content) during PASCET-PI sessions and their association with improvements in psychological functioning.

Participants included 10 adolescent patients with IBD with mean illness duration of 31.9 months. At intake, eight participants qualified for a diagnosis of major depressive disorder and two for a diagnosis of minor depression. Participants completed measures of depressive symptomatology and clinicians completed the Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS). Measures were completed at posttreatment, 6 months posttreatment, and 1 year posttreatment. Independent judges used the Psychotherapy Process Q-sort (PQS) to rate the salience of therapeutic processes for PASCET-PI sessions #2 and #8 for each subject.

PQS ratings of PASCET-PI sessions were con-elated with ideal prototypes of cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT), inteqnrsonal therapy (IPT), and psychodynamic (PD) orientations that were previously developed based on PQS ratings of an ideal session, according to expert therapists. Findings indicate that PASCET-PI sessions most closely resembled the CBT prototype (r = .51, p < .05). Change scores on outcome measures were correlated with PQS-prototype correlates to determine which processes were associated with improved psychological functioning. Findings suggest that reductions in depressive symptomatology were associated with processes characteristic of various orientations. Thus, CBT processes were not exclusive in promoting change. There were strong positive relationships between change scores of the PCS and prototypes of all orientations (CBT, IPT, and PD) at posttreatment and between the CDI and ASQ and all orientations at 6-months follow-up (r = .62 -.72, p < .05). Comparisons of specific process-outcome correlates and nonspecific process-outcome correlates did not reveal significant differences.

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