Pediatric SLPs' perceptions of the therapeutic alliance across communication disorders

Abstract

Many researchers in psychotherapy, healthcare and speech-language pathology have stated that the therapeutic alliance (TA) is an important factor in positive therapy outcomes. However, little is known about the TA in pediatric speech pathology, specifically how it is understood when treating different types of pediatric communication disorders. The purpose of this study was to investigate SLPs’ perceptions of TA across different communication disorders and child age groups. SLPs’ filled out a survey where they rated their perceptions of TA using the Clinician-Client Relationship Scale (Ebert, 2016) for different communication disorders. Results indicated that SLPs’ overall TA ratings were high across communication disorders and child ages, but TA subscale scores differed. Further, analysis of clinicians’ perceived benefits and barriers to TA showed a disconnect between the importance and actual understanding of TA. Results reveal the need for additional research to better understand therapeutic relationships with children to increase quality of care.