ORCID

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4293-6857

Date of Award

Summer 2026

Language

English

Embargo Period

7-30-2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

College/School/Department

Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology

Program

Counseling Psychology

First Advisor

Myrna Friedlander

Committee Members

Kimberly Colvin, Adam Jones, Valentín Escudero

Keywords

family therapy, therapist effects, supervision and training, measure validation, systemic therapy skills, Spanish translation

Subject Categories

Counseling Psychology

Abstract

Despite the growing understanding of therapist factors in client outcomes, there remains limited understanding of the skills that distinguish effective family therapists. The aim of the present study was to assess the interrater reliabilities and factorial structure of a Spanish version of the Facilitative Systemic Intervention Skills (FSIS; Jones et al., 2023a), an observational rating system for evaluating the skillfulness of family therapists in delivering systemic interventions. The FSIS includes eight empirically and theoretically informed systemic therapy skills (Inclusiveness, Empathy for Relational Difficulties, Responsiveness to Safety Concerns, Collaborative Stance, Conceptualizing Family Problems Systemically, Responsiveness to Disparate Goals, Focus on Family Strengths, Initiating Interaction), each of which is rated by trained judges on a scale from 0 = not systemic to 3 = highly systemic.

Eleven bilingual judges trained on the FSIS rated an archival dataset of 77 responses by 154 experienced Spanish family therapists who had participated in an online training in which they provided written responses to four challenging couple and family therapy vignettes. The judges’ interrater reliabilities were good to excellent; ICCs ranged from .72 (Conceptualizing Family Problems Systemically) to .88 (Initiating Interaction) (M = .78). A confirmatory factor analysis indicated a two-factor model with 7 of the 8 scales (all but Focus on Family Strengths). These factors were interpreted as “Systemic Perceptiveness/Supportive” and “Systemic Shift/Change-Oriented” skills. Mean scores on 5 scales varied significantly across vignettes but not by therapist age or experience. Notably, three skills were rated significantly higher for participants who completed the task in teams rather than individually.

The results reflect the nature and complexity of conjoint treatment, in that the use of systemic intervention skills is not uniform, but rather responsive to the family members and presenting concerns in the room. While additional work is needed to further refine the FSIS, it has promising implications for (a) contributing to graduate training through assessing skill development and providing individualized feedback to trainees about their use of discrete systemic therapy skills; (b) being used jointly with deliberate practice to support improvement and delivery of systemic therapy skills; and (c) understanding therapist effects through future outcome studies.

License

This work is licensed under the University at Albany Standard Author Agreement.

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