Therapist's assessment of their patient's session-level emotional processes: validation of the in-session patient affective reactions questionnaire–clinician form

Background: The current study aimed to evaluate a therapist version of the in‐Session Patient Affective Reactions Questionnaire(SPARQ). The SPARQ was developed to assess a pattern of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors experienced by a patient towardtheir therapist during a session. The SPARQ has existed only as a patient self‐report measure and has demonstrated promise as apsychotherapy process measure. This study intended to validate a complementary clinician‐report version of the questionnaire:the SPARQ‐C.Methods: A sample of licensed mental health clinicians (N = 151) completed the SPARQ‐C along with other measures. Dataanalysis involved exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). Reliability and convergent and criterion‐related validityof the SPARQ‐C were also evaluated.Results: The SPARQ‐C preserved the two‐factor structure: positive affect (k = 4, ω total = 0.84) and negative affect (k = 4, ωtotal = 0.70), which correlated r = 0.26. CFA using the a priori model two‐factor model based on the patient‐report versionprovided the following fit indices: χ2[19] = 26.01, CFI = 0.98; TLI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.05 (90% CI [0.00, 0.09]), and SRMR = 0.05.The SPARQ‐C scales demonstrated convergent and criterion‐related validity with measures of other elements of the therapeuticrelationship, session outcome, and demographic‐clinical variables.Discussion: The SPARQ‐C is a reliable measure suitable for both clinical and research purposes. It allows for a nuancedassessment of patients' session‐level affective responses towards their therapist from the clinician's perspective.