Patient Attachment to Therapist Rating Scale: development and psychometric properties.

Objective: To report on the development and initial psychometric properties of a new rating scale for patent-therapist attachment.

Method: Seventy interviews from the Young Adult Psychotherapy Project (YAPP) were rated.

Results: Excellent internal consistency (Cronbach's α > .90) was observed for all four subscales (Security, Deactivation, Hyperactivation, and Disorganization). Three subscales showed good inter-rater reliability (ICC > .60), while one (Hyperactivation) had poor (ICC < .40). Correlations with measures of alliance, mental representations, and symptom distress support the construct validity of the reliable subscales. Exploratory factor analysis indicated three underlying factors explaining 82% of the variance.

Conclusions: The Patient Attachment to Therapist Rating Scale is a promising approach for assessing the quality of attachment to therapist from patient narratives. Future development should focus on improving the discrimination of the insecure subscales.