Week 4 : Topic Choice By the Therapist



Introduction
This week’s work will cover the therapist’s choice of topic, that is, what they choose to focus on.  The two empirical studies assigned this week both tested the differences in topic choice between two different therapy models. Tomori and Bavelas (2007) compared how solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) versus client-centered therapists chose to focus on positive, negative, or neutral topics. The second article by Smock Jordan et al. (2013) examined more extensively the use of positive and negative topics in dialogues by cognitive-behavioral (CBT) versus SFBT therapists and their clients.

The exercise for this week replicates the primary analysis of Smock Jordan et al.  Using a CBT and a SFBT video, you will identify and annotate each utterance spoken by the therapist, following the flow chart of Smock Jordan et al. (2010) for labeling the topic choice of each utterance as positive, negative, both positive and negative, or neither positive or negative. 

​Learning Objectives
  • Identifying topic choices as positive, negative, both, or neither.
  • Conducting a microanalysis of topic choices by therapists from two different therapy models.
  • Observing the differences in the topic choice of the therapist between different therapy models. 

Readings: Get these from "Downloads, IMA course, Week 4” 

Required Readings:
Jordan, S. S., Froerer, A., & Bavelas, J. (2013). Microanalysis of positive and negative content in solution-focused brief                  therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy expert sessions. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 32, 46-59.

Smock Jordan, S., Froerer, A., & Bavelas, J. (2010).  Flow chart for identifying positive and negative content in therapy                 dialogues. 

Smock Jordan, S., Froerer, A., & Bavelas, J. (2010).  Rules for identifying positive and  negative content in therapy dialogues. (Pages 1-3, 5-16 ONLY) 

Optional Readings:
Tomori, C., & Bavelas, J. B. (2007). Using microanalysis of communication to compare solution-focused and client-centered           therapies. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 18, 25-43.


Exercise
  1. Be sure to do the required reading first, because you will be replicating the procedures described in Smock Jordan et al. (2013) and using the flow chart in Smock Jordan et al. (2010a).  After doing the Reading, watch the “Week 4 exercise demonstration” video which you can download from the Week 4 sub-folder in the Dropbox folder named “Downloads, IMA online course.” 
  2. Return to the Dropbox folder named “Downloads, IMA online course” and find its Week 4 sub-folder.  Inside that sub-folder, find the “Persons CBT” video as well as the ELAN file entitled "Persons CBT topic choice” (both the eaf and pfsx files).    Download these files to the Week 4 subfolder in your desktop folder for the course.  Then open the ELAN and save it as “Persons CBT topic choice, Week 4—ssj” (add your initials to the title).  
  3.  Open this ELAN and notice that there are four tiers already created. This week you will use the first two; you may wish to hide the third and fourth tiers for now.  Watch the entire video using your ELAN file before you begin analyzing.  A transcript of the therapist content that you need to analyze has already been annotated on the “therapist content” tier. After watching the entire video, begin your analysis at 9 minutes, 21 seconds (where the therapist says "Yeah, well I don’t think we should worry quite so much about tha") continuing to 11:03 (where the client says “Well I wasn’t sure”).
  4.  Starting at 9:21, analyze the therapist’s topic choice for each utterance on the second tier. That is, select the time interval for each utterance and, following the procedures in the flow chart (Smock Jordan, et al., 2010a) and the rules (Smock Jordan et al., 2010b), annotate each utterance from the therapist as positive, negative, both positive and negative, neither positive or negative, or not analyzable.
  5.  Now, repeat steps 2-4 with the “de Shazer SFBT topic choice” ELAN.  
  6.  Start your analysis of the therapist’s topic choice at 11:41 (when de Shazer says “Um hmm. Well, have there been times in the past . . .”) continuing through the end of the clip.  
  7.  Once you have completed your analysis for this week, upload your completed ELAN files for both your Persons and de Shazer analyses to the Week 4 sub-folder in the Dropbox folder: “Uploads; IMA online course.” 

Postings 
1. Questions
In your first post (title this post "Questions, Week 4") answer these questions about your analysis:
          a) Did you find a difference in topic choice between the two therapists? 
          b) Is it similar to the results presented in Smock Jordan et al.(2013)? 
(The questions post is due by midnight Saturday evening, March 4.)

2. Comparison  
          a) Download and look over the ELAN files and tables of two other class members for either the Persons or de Shazer                 video. 
          b) Then choose one course member's table of results and compare it with your own.  Discover why agreements and               differences occurred by comparing their work with yours. 
          c)  Write a second post on your comparison to this course member's analysis, discussing both agreements and differences in your analyses (Title the post "Comparing with..."). 
(The comparisons post is due by midnight Monday evening, March 6.) 

PDF of Week 4 instructions     
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